It was a good idea to turn on Google Earth this Saturday morning — even if the laptop was within destruction reach of a 1.3-year old niece who is attracted to keyboards like an ICBM to its target — because today there was the pleasant surprise of seeing two of the most interesting third-party network links turned into default layers, and placed in a new directory, “Geographic Web”:
- Wikipedia’s georeferenced articles are now available via a layer of placemarks, with the popup containing an overview, photos, and links to further articles. The marriage of Wikipedia with Google Earth was a great idea, and now it’s available by default to a much wider range of people.
- Panoramio, a site for sharing georeferenced photos that has long provided a network link of its photos, is also included inthe new directory. Panoramio’s photos tend to be more post-card/documentary than those on Flickr, so they have an easier time being useful in an educational setting.
In addition, the most highly rated posts of Google Earth Community now get special treatment. I tend to turn on all Google Earth Community layers if I’m zoomed in close and want to find out what I’m seeing. Amid the chaff, there is almost always an answer.
In sum, promoting the best content for Google Earth to a default layer (and presumably hosting it) is easily the biggest bang for the buck the Google Earth team can provide, as well as providing wider exposure for the content providers, and more stuff to do for users. Win-win-win. I’m looking forward to more.
wow. one of the most useful Google Earth updates i’ve seen. the Panoramio one is very handy – especially if you are browsing around a holiday resort in Spain or Greece – really helps you get the feel of place before going there.
Rumsey historical maps are now available for the mac version of Google Earth.
Excuse me. Do you know how wikipedia entries can be added to Google Earth for the new layer?
there doesnt appear to be real time updates from panoramio to google earth. i uploaded a few pictures yesterday and mapped them – but they have yet to appear in google earth.
You are right, the layer of Panoramio is not updated in real time, but you can see all photos updated in real time by opening Panoramio’s KML feed with Google Earth.
I’ve accumulated quite a few spectacular photos that I’ve taken of various backcountry areas. I just noticed today that Google Earth has attached images from the Panaramio site on many locales.
How do I get my images onto Google Earth … i.e., what is the protocol and process for image selection to appear on Google Earth?
Just open an account at panoramio.com, upload your photos, and then in a few months your photos should show up on Google Earth.
Ok, what freaking use is the Wikipedia layer if they never update it?? It’s been a week since I added co-ordinates to several Wikipedia articles and still nothing. Pathetic!!
If you have a moment please visit The Stockholm City Archives for a look at our beautiful city through the times using historical maps – starting at 1625.
http://www.ssa.stockholm.se/Atlas/googlestep2.htm
Kindly
Ms Anna Bergman
Patience….my photos appeared….but it took 45 days. Give it time…this is a huge effort.
U R wright. this website sucks ass