This was some seriously cutting-edge stuff in the early 90s, and it required significant horsepower for the time. The software ran on a Silicon Graphics Onyx, a base-model Onyx cost about 120.000 dollars at introduction and depending on specs and options could cost you up to a eye-watering 600k+ dollars. And that’s not accounting for inflation, that’s 1993-dollars.
piggledy on
There used to be this D-Sat software with satellite imagery of Germany on CD, was fascinating as a child, even though our house was only in black and white. Would have never imagined Google Maps with 3D imagery and Street View back then.
BTW, the “ATM connection” the narrator mentions has nothing to do with automatic teller machines. He’s referencing Asynchronous Transfer Mode, a telecommunications data protocol from the 80s through the early 2000s, now largely supplanted by IP networks.
spikeham on
I saw a Terravision rig at a SIGGRAPH conference around ’98. Its interactive performance and resolution were cutting edge. The “giant ball” controller was innovative. The engineers who created Google Maps were definitely inspired by their whole earth live view model.
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This was some seriously cutting-edge stuff in the early 90s, and it required significant horsepower for the time. The software ran on a Silicon Graphics Onyx, a base-model Onyx cost about 120.000 dollars at introduction and depending on specs and options could cost you up to a eye-watering 600k+ dollars. And that’s not accounting for inflation, that’s 1993-dollars.
There used to be this D-Sat software with satellite imagery of Germany on CD, was fascinating as a child, even though our house was only in black and white. Would have never imagined Google Maps with 3D imagery and Street View back then.
https://preview.redd.it/77te2t5fohxf1.jpeg?width=798&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=b67fa284107d0180533e8db7f50858e08d2959dc
Before google maps, I used terraaserver.
Google straight up stole their fking tech
BTW, the “ATM connection” the narrator mentions has nothing to do with automatic teller machines. He’s referencing Asynchronous Transfer Mode, a telecommunications data protocol from the 80s through the early 2000s, now largely supplanted by IP networks.
I saw a Terravision rig at a SIGGRAPH conference around ’98. Its interactive performance and resolution were cutting edge. The “giant ball” controller was innovative. The engineers who created Google Maps were definitely inspired by their whole earth live view model.