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Handy creative writing tip: repurposing Twilight Zone episode titles is a great way to come up with really faux-profound titles on short notice. The Twilight Zone has a bunch of great episode titles that grab your attention faster than Rod Serling popping out from behind a tree after a speedy camera pan. Whatever you do, under absolutely no circumstances should you repurpose titles from Walt Witman, Ray Bradbury, or 70's jazz fusion band Weather Report.

That being said, the globe in question is the spinning polygonal orb in one of my favorite freebies, Google Earth. Something of an outgrowth of the original Google Maps, Google Earth is its own separate application that provides a three dimensional take on what Google Maps previously displayed only in two dimensions. More than merely a round re-hash of the data from Maps, Google Earth provides a great deal of additional information not found in Maps.

The basic functionality, geographical search and directions, is neatly encompassed in the search bar at the top left. Type in an address, and, assuming it's found, you'll "fly" there in a pleasing little real-time zoom-in sequence. What you find when you "arrive" will vary, depending on whether higher-resolution data is available for the location. The higher detailed shots are where Google Earth really shines, but they have yet to fill in all spots on the planet quite yet.

Fans of CNN's geography zoom-ins will find Google Earth rather familiar, as it is Google Earth that creates those animations. Instead of zooming down to the Green Zone, you might set your sights a bit lower and take a look at the local Pizza Hut instead. That is the beauty of the high res imagery in Google Earth, though. You can get a good look at downtown Baghdad or downtown Hoboken, and a lot of places in between you may never have known existed.

That's what makes Google Earth fun: the exploration. Opening it up with no reason whatsoever other than picking some random part of the globe to zoom in and hunt for high res imagery can be an exhilarating experience. Vast tracts of completely empty desert in the Sahara or dense jungle in the Amazon can reveal small towns and cities or remote villages of just a few houses. The vast metropolises of the developed world can provide just as much interest, with dense skyscrapers, landmarks, and airports. Airports are always fun, seeing parked jets at terminals and sprawling parking lots.

Fans of urban areas have the additional benefit of simple 3D building models in some major US cities. The basic models are simplistic, but via their free "SketchUp" program, more detailed buildings are being added courtesy of many modelers who donate their time for the project. These models can be found at their "3D Warehouse" site where they can be stored, downloaded and appear in Google Earth with the appropriate "layer" enabled.

Of course, relying on the community will only get you so far. Modelers might be clamoring to lovingly recreate famous skyscrapers, capitol buildings, and massive stadiums, but that run-down warehouse a few blocks over isn't going to be seeing much love anytime soon. Thus, Google recently announced it would be licensing a product that can produce 3D building models automatically. It apparently relies on similar technology that drove a robotic car autonomously for 131 miles. I'm assuming there are some "shape-recognition" algorithms in there somewhere.

This is not just an altruistic improvement to their system, though. Like many aspects of the software industry, it's all about an arms race. This one is between Google Earth and Microsoft Virtual Earth. Microsoft's Virtual Earth has licensed similar technology based on aerial photography to generate more detailed models. Currently Microsoft's "default" building models do outpace Google's, and the boys from the 'Plex are looking to catch up. Though the products of human modelers from 3D Warehouse can put MS's auto-generated content to shame, those human efforts are still few and far between compared to Virtual Earth's more densely populated 3D cities.

Google's flat, simple default building models are not quite up to the ones provided by Virtual Earth. Compare downtown Boston, for instance. I certainly admit Virtual Earth has the eye candy advantage. The building textures in Virtual Earth aren't exactly "crisp", but they are better than the mostly vast expanse of blocky flat gray currently available to Google Earth users.

It will be interesting to see how Google's efforts pay off in terms of improvements. The combination of human crafted "prestige" buildings with a solid background of automatically generated 3D building content could certainly outdo what is currently on offer in Virtual Earth. Like any arms race, though, it's all about the response. Microsoft won't be resting on its laurels if Google's efforts are wildly successful. With some texture improvements, Microsoft wouldn't have to work hard to put something very impressive out there.

Granted, eventually there comes the issue of computing power. Both applications can be rather "intense" for even mid-range computers at the moment. Run on a higher-end machine there's little to worry about, but older computers will start choking when asked to crunch too many polygons, especially with higher resolution textures.

Even though I find Virtual Earth more visually appealing at the moment, I still prefer Google Earth. I admit, one pet peeve I have with Microsoft is their insistence that Virtual Earth be run in a browser. Sure, I'm betting the Google Earth "application" is little more than a tricked out Mozilla Firefox browser, but it's still a separate application, and I like it that way. Another peeve with Virtual Earth is that it's difficult to tell where the high-res imagery is. This completely handicaps your ability to explore in Virtual Earth, as you have no guarantee the area to which you are zooming has high res images to enjoy.

Couple useful sites for your Google Earth enjoyment outside of 3D Warehouse are the Google Earth Blog, and Google Earth Hacks. Google Earth blog is a general news, features, and info site for Google Earth. Don't be fooled by the name, Google Earth Hacks is not a malicious site, it is merely a site that includes more add-ons for Google Earth, like image overlays, additional 3D models, and links to areas of interest captured by Google's high res imagery, like aircraft in flight.