Well I said I would, so I stopped at Target on my way home from work and picked up an Xbox 360 controller to use with Virtual Earth 3D. Well I’m happy to report it works very well. Windows XP SP2 seemed to have the drivers installed for the controller so I didn’t have to install anything to get it working. Then I just fired up Virtual Earth 3D and away I went. Navigating the digital earth was much easier than using the mouse or keyboard. You pan around with the left stick, rotate the map using the right stick (left/right), the view angle with the right stick (up/down), zoom in using left trigger and zoom out using right trigger, rotate map north using the A button, and change the map speed with the X/Y buttons. The only thing I didn’t notice was a way to change the map type from the controller (roads/aerial/hybrid). Other than that it worked flawlessly.
I never had any plans to buy an Xbox 360, but a digital earth application like VE 3D gets me to at least buy their controller. I tried to use the controller with Google Earth and ESRI’s ArcGIS Explorer with no luck.
7 responses so far ↓
1
Brian Timoney
// Nov 8, 2006 at 10:12 pm
But do you have the balls to use it during a client demo??
Brian
2
James Fee
// Nov 9, 2006 at 6:08 am
I’ll keep it below the table.
3
m_k
// Nov 9, 2006 at 12:00 pm
You can use the controller with NASA World Wind.
Just get this plugin: http://www.mperfect.net/mceWorldWind/
(Plugin #2 : XBox 360 Wired Controller)
4
James Fee
// Nov 9, 2006 at 12:14 pm
I’ll have to try that out tonight. The computer I was on didn’t have WW so I didn’t bother searching it, but I assumed someone had figured that out.
5 Ogle Earth Reviews 3DConnexion SpaceNavigator at James Fee GIS Blog // Nov 28, 2006 at 6:32 am
[...] Sigh, I’d love to have one of these to demo ESRI’s ArcGlobe, especially the SpaceExplorer version. I’m sure one could do wonderful things with that baby! I see the benefit of using such controllers with 3D globes after using the Xbox controller with Virtual Earth 3D. [...]
6
MapForums
// Apr 21, 2008 at 10:40 am
I am trying to get it to work with the Sidewinder mouse.. any suggestions? I need to set Application Specific settings and I don’t know what program to choose and where.
7
Map Forums
// Apr 21, 2008 at 11:16 am
In case anyone else is searching for this, here’s what I did… your mileage may vary.
I think the two thumb buttons are impossible to control left-handed with my pinkie so I switched to my right hand (not a big deal, I am right handed anyway).
My main goal was to do as much with the mouse as possbible without clicking on the Nav controls.
Under Enable program specific settings, I added Internet Explorer (under Program Files). Hopefully I will learn a better place to point it so it is specific to Virtual Earth, but too bad.. not a bid deal.
I set the Bottom thumb button to Ctrl-Left and the Top thumb button control to Ctrl-Right. This lets you pivot or rotate around a point in front of your view.
I also set the Scroll wheel button to “Up” so I can fly forward smoothly with just the mouse.
Those three controls are about all you need to fly around a city at a particular height.. I also noticed you can rotate around while using the scroll wheel to zoom in and out, but I couldn’t just move forward (”Up”) at the same time as rotating.. this didn’t seem to work on the keyboard either.
Anyway, I’m sure it’s not nearly as cool as the XBox controller, but is better than just a mouse and keyboard (IMHO).
Eric
http://www.MapElves.com
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