Moving Maps In Video

[noelma]

I like to be able to insert moving maps into my videos. For example, if the action moves from Rome to Paris, I would like to show a map of Rome, then zoom out and "fly" to Paris and zoom in.
Maybe even showing a line tracing the route taken!
Google Earth has this facility - you can create a route and store amnd play it.
In GE professional it even allows export of this as a movie.
But the quality is very poor.
Google My maps looks promising - anyone had success with this?
Any other suggestions as to how to do this?
Thanks!

[poisondeathray]

One option is to screen record the movement from Google Earth

I would do it in after effects. It would be harder to do, but you could do things like line tracing (a la Indiana Jones style), rotating, 3d space, camera moves, etc... and would look much better because you can customize it, use custom maps, and export in any quality you want. There are tutorials online for this sort of thing, just use search terms like indiana jones map effect, etc... and there are dozens out there...

e.g. for the line tracing
http://ae.tutsplus.com/tutorials/motion-graphics/map-your-destination-in-ae/
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zxg7lnFjtdE

I'm sure there are a few others. The zoom in/out is pretty easy to do in AE, because you have a 3d camera that can move independently of the assets

[noelma]

One option is to screen record the movement from Google Earth

I would do it in after effects. It would be harder to do, but you could do things like line tracing (a la Indiana Jones style), rotating, 3d space, camera moves, etc... and would look much better because you can customize it, use custom maps, and export in any quality you want. There are tutorials online for this sort of thing, just use search terms like indiana jones map effect, etc... and there are dozens out there...

e.g. for the line tracing
http://ae.tutsplus.com/tutorials/motion-graphics/map-your-destination-in-ae/
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zxg7lnFjtdE

I'm sure there are a few others. The zoom in/out is pretty easy to do in AE, because you have a 3d camera that can move independently of the assets

Thanks for that!
AE maybe a bit out side my budget!!
Just found the following:
http://www.videoforums.co.uk/reviews/features/fly-to-your-destination-a34.html
Going to try that as well as your other search suggestion!!

[olyteddy]

Google Earth ain't the only game in town. There's also World Wind http://worldwind.arc.nasa.gov/download.html, a free prog from NASA that (iirc) can output a sequence of JPEGs that you can make into a movie clip. They also have maps for the Moon, Mars and Saturn...

[El Heggunte]

If you have the time to study some Avisynth, you could use the filter "Animate()" to
zoom in/out ++ pan&scan. Not "easy" nor "intuitive", but it works, and is free.

[noelma]

Google Earth ain't the only game in town. There's also World Wind http://worldwind.arc.nasa.gov/download.html, a free prog from NASA that (iirc) can output a sequence of JPEGs that you can make into a movie clip. They also have maps for the Moon, Mars and Saturn...

Thanks... I have looked at World Wind, but coverage outside USA is very poor, and load time for images is very slow.
Maybe if my trip was extraterrestrial....!

[noelma]

If you have the time to study some Avisynth, you could use the filter "Animate()" to
zoom in/out ++ pan&scan. Not "easy" nor "intuitive", but it works, and is free.

Thanks for that. Bit complicated for me. I find using Pinnacle Studio Plus challenging!
But you have a point... in the absence of a slick solution, pan & zoom (within Studio Plus) using still images is probably where I'll end up!!