GoogleEarth™ is a lovely tool that I got hooked on recently, and then while watching that "SuperVolcano" movie about Yellowstone blowing up, and seeing that big fancy computer of theirs that did all those neat 3D maps and such, it occurred to me I could mix my little quake database here with GoogleEarth™. So I did, and it's probably the only good thing that's ever come out of that movie. There are two ways you can use it.
First, you can insert a "Network Link" into your MyPlaces™ folder that shows you all the same quakes you get if
you just go to "quakes.php" on here without any parameters. Just right-click "My Places™", hit "Add" and "Network
Link", give it whatever title you want, and for the URL, enter this:
http://www.isthisthingon.org/Yellowstone/gooquake.php
I also have a KML file premade to do all that mostly for you; just left-click this to open it
right up, or right-click and "save as" and open it from the G.E.™ client itself, whatever you wanna do. It's got
just the network link in it.
Second method, you can get any quake report using the usual form, and just above the form option settings, right next to "URL for this report", you'll see a "GoogleEarth™" link which will export the current report into a KML file and send it to you.
Whichever way you use it, you'll find four items in it. The first is "Quake Path"; it's all the quakes joined by a lot of yellow lines. That's the chronological path the quakes took as they propagated. You can turn it (or any other item) off by unchecking it; I know the path display can be annoying. Item two, "Quake Limits", shows the land area inside which I collect quakes. You'll never find a quake outside that box. It's just a bit larger than Yellowstone itself. Item three is a folder containing all the seismometers I've ever monitored inside the park (the ones that have published "webicorder" seismometer trace images available). There are others. Some come and go, some are always there, some never seem to work right, some just aren't shared with the world I guess. And the fourth item is another folder, this one holding all the actual earthquakes that matched the parameters you gave it. If there are NO quakes that match, you'll get an "error message" back (basically, a folder named "No Quakes Found"). Just so you know. Also so you know, all KML returned by this site is version 2.0. 2.1 is still sort of beta-quality, some clients might not support it yet, etc etc, so I figured 2.0 would be less-annoying than 2.1.
Another annoying thing is that the original quake data they provide isn't very accurate; I get a whole TWO decimal places on latitudes and longitudes from them now, which is only accurate to seven tenths of a mile. That means quakes sometimes look like they're in a straight line when they really aren't, or there's like half a dozen of them all on the same point because they all happened within a third of a mile OF that spot. Quakes way in the past, from before 2005 I think, were accurate to SIX decimal places (which locates it to within 4.4 inches), so maps of those look a whole lot better. Write your Congressman and ask why your tax dollars are being used to devolve science like that...
So anyway, that's that. Pretty simple and easy to use; it was even easy to write. I hope you like it, but it doesn't matter if you don't because I do. Nyah.
Update: I've just added a 3-D quake map that floats in the air over the park. I like it a lot. It needs a little tweaking, but it's very usable as it is. Try turning off the "Ground Plane" element if it looks like there's nothing there; it hides things under it even though it's transparent. Go figure. But I wanted you to know that that plane is the level of the ground, and all the quakes happen at some depth under it. True 3-D. If only it was accurate... It's in the usual GoogleEarth™ link on all reports, and I recommend you sort the quakes by DEPTH before you click on it... hint, hint. Another hint: what you see there now is just my first draft. It will improve over time, unless something like decapitation prevents me from working on it. I'm in love with it, mostly because I've never seen anything like it anywhere on any earthquake site in the world, ever. Do you have any idea how long I've wished I could build an app that does 3-D earthquake maps, simply because apparently, nobody else ever has?? My God. You just don't know.
And so help me, if I see any patents for "Method and Apparatus for Displaying Below-Ground Point-Source Data using GoogleEarth™ by Projection of the Data to a level where they are all Above Ground, thus Banishing its Evil Curse on the world's Seismologists," I'll sue. Heh.