Technorati listed movie news blog ComingSoon showcased today a video of Google's new Chrome experiment, a website incorporating aspects of their everyday Google Earth and Maps with the fantasy world of Middle Earth.
Meant to be an immersive experience based on the hand-drawn maps J. R. R. Tolkien included with his epic novel series, the site is called A Journey Through Middle Earth, and is a collaborative effort between the folks at Google and the producers of the Hobbit trilogy. The site is designed to run on any device that has an up-to-date Chrome web browser, including mobile phones.
Begin your descent into Middle Earth from the perspective of an eagle, zooming ever downward until you can enjoy a Hobbit's view of the fictional world. As you explore, you'll see animated 3-dimensional renderings taken directly from scenes of the movie, catching glimpses of shifty characters scampering to and fro. Danger lurks everywhere, as does adventure. Run from trolls, avoid unseen monsters, and run through the greenery of Rivendell.
Currently there are three spots on the map to explore: Trollshaw Forrest, Rivendell, and Dol Guldur. Lock symbols cover Thranduil's Hall, Lake-Town and Erebor, promising a future release with more to discover in the site.
With The Desolation of Smaug, the second installment of The Hobbit trilogy arriving in theaters on December 13th, this is a welcome project from Google, indeed.
Daniel Isaksson of HTML5Rocks has a nice post detailing how the project was rendered in WebGL and HTML5.
via Technology articles at Technorati http://feeds09.technorati.com/~r/tr-technology/~3/zOdKF8-mqeQ/