Google just released and update to Google Earth that enables a new layer of 3d buildings with textures. "Grey block" 3d buildings have been available in Google Earth for a while, and textured 3d buildings have been available for a couple months but were a pain to find (they required downloading the 3d Warehouse network link and then hunting around for the icons, clicking on the icon, selecting download, then waiting for the download to complete). Finally Google took the "Best of 3d Warehouse" and made it enabled by default in Google Earth. The results are exhilarating! Below is a movie demoing the 3d buildings in Denver, Colorado:
There are buildings in other cities around the world; some cities have more models than others. Denver seems to be the best so far, probably because it is the home of Sketchup, the company Google bought that makes 3d modeling software. Anyone can contribute models - as Google put it, "super models wanted" - so over time the world should get filled in with high quality models. The model of the Google campus in Mountain View, CA is especially high quality - it even includes the solar panels that Google is in the process of installing on the roofs and over the parking lots!
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