Google Lat Long: Google Earth Geographic Web updates

The official blog for Google Maps

Google Earth Geographic Web updates

August 12, 2008

Organizing the world's spatial information means benefiting from the collective knowledge and experiences of people around the globe. Making this information universally accessible enables you to discover the world and its places, not only as they are, but as you make them. That's why we now have the "Places" layer. With this release, we've combined user-generated content from sources including Wikipedia, Panoramio, the Google Earth Community, and YouTube to create a single, multi-faceted layer. A single glance. Better understanding. Endless exploration.

In the main Google Earth 3-D view, look for an icon that looks like a stack of photos to find a Place to explore. You'll notice that we've also changed the icon for Panoramio photos (now represented by a smaller photo stack) and Wikipedia (now represented by a "W").

Each "Place" is a specific spot on Earth we think you'll find interesting (we gauge that interest level by noting much community content exists about that place). Click on a Place icon to see a bubble rich with relevant content about that place... flip through photos, play videos, and download KML files from the Google Earth Community. Here's the bubble for the Golden Gate Bridge:

We've also broadened our "Wikipedia" layer. As Wikipedia expands in breadth across languages, so do we! Google Earth's Wikipedia content will now match your Google Earth client's language for eighteen supported languages. If Swedish is your primary language, for instance, you'll be greeted with fully internationalized bubbles like this: