What a brilliant idea.  As you row on your ergo, why not watch the world go by….. in real time?

There are some wonderful crazy rowing guys and girls around the world.

Fancy sculling the Zambezi, rowing Rodeo Drive, causing havoc in China?  it’s all possible thanks to a fun little plug-in and some help from Google Earth !

Here’s how to do it ….

Here’s what the Google Earth Blog said. Why not hook up your rowing machine and practice rowing your
favorite river from the comfort of your exercise room? That’s what these guys did.  They wrote an application to interface between a Concept II PM3 using a USB cable and Google Earth so you can then row yourself down the river.

This is a great concept, but could use some more innovation to make it more practical. Right now it apparently just shows a view of the river as you row yourself along. You could show a boat icon with your position, show your track, put up your current speed and distance to finish, etc. In fact, you could use the new time features in GE 4 to
show animations of your previous runs. This tool enables you to do familiarization with a new river before you even get there in person (the same way I use GE or a flight simulator for familiarization before I fly to a new airport). Of course, you could also do fun things like row the Grand Canyon, go down 5th avenue in NYC, or do the Pacific
Ocean! 🙂 via OgleEarth. Would someone out there write a version for Rowperfect?  Justus is the king of the software and would happily collaborate with you, I’m sure. his site is www.row-ware.com

Cheers! Rebecca Caroe