Last year we had a post about authors using Google Maps to tell stories, and pondered whether that was foreshadowing other examples to come. Now author John Higham has taken that to the next level by incorporating Google Earth into his book as a way to illustrate his (literal) journey. 360 Degrees Longitude – One Family’s Journey Around The World tells the story of John's year-long trip across the globe with his wife and children, and he's created a KML to serve as an interactive narrative that puts the family's adventures in visual & geographic context. As John explains it, "while we were traveling around the world time and time again I felt awe at the difference between the perception of reading about a place and experiencing it in the flesh. When I wrote the book, I wanted the reader to have as much of a sense of 'being there' as possible. Using Google Earth was the answer."

At the beginning of the book, the readers are directed to the Google Earth layer, which John considers a 'travel companion'. The KML includes photos, videos, and additional tales to accompany each chapter in the book. You can read more about John's use of Google Earth or find the KML file in the Google Earth gallery.


Posted by Elaine Filadelfo, Lat Long Blog Team