Atlas Gloves: A DIY Hand Gesture Interface for Google Earth

Dan Phiffer and Mushon Zer-Aviv have developed an amazing hand-gesture interface for Google Earth called Atlas Gloves.

If you have access to an LCD projector, a webcam, and can invest about $5 in parts, you can download their free software and use it to control Google Earth as it's projected on a screen.

I've had the opportunity to play with the TouchTable technology at a number of conferences and meetings, but just don't have the ten$ of thousand$ of dollar$ needed to purchase one. Many schools and businesses already have the technology needed-- all they would need is the software and a pair of the do-it-yourself gloves to have a fully-interactive system.

The educational applications alone are amazing the thing about. Imagine how kinesthetic learners might respond by being able to directly manipulate a rich interactive environment such as Google Earth. I hope that the developers can be persuaded to adapt their software to work with other environments, such as ESRI's ArcGlobe & ArcGIS Explorer, and NASA's WorldWind.

Be sure to check out their website and view the two demo movies at http://atlasgloves.org/