Google Earth

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Google+ Invades Earth

John Paczkowski in News on January 26 at 1:02 pm PT

Google+ is taking over the Earth — well, Google Earth, anyway. The search giant rolled out the latest version of Google Earth today, and while it boasts much improved graphics, the big enhancement to take note of is its integration with the company’s Google+ social networking and identity service. Now users can share their virtual travels with friends and with Google as well, thanks to Google+, which slowly seems to be insinuating itself into every corner of Google’s world — literally.

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Country No. 184 for Google Map Maker: The United States

Liz Gannes in Social on April 19, 2011 at 12:01 am PT

Google Map Maker, which enlists users to expand and keep up to date Google Maps and Google Earth, will on Tuesday become available in the United States. (Other independent user mapping efforts include Waze and OpenStreetMap, both already available in the U.S. ) A product developed by Google in India, the company says Map Maker has already been used by thousands of cartophiles to edit maps in 183 countries and regions around the world. User edits are usually approved for inclusion in the live product within a few days. And now, that forgotten nation…the U.S..

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Ayn Rand Fan Writes Tribute Viewable Only Using Google Earth

Beth Callaghan in News on August 13, 2010 at 12:35 pm PT

Never underestimate the power of self-determination. Ultimate fanboy Nick Newcomen drove 12,238 miles and recorded his path with a GPS device to write the words “Read Ayn Rand” across 30 states. Much like a skywriter would do, he mapped his route, then turned on the logger when he wanted to “write” a letter. When the data was loaded into Google Earth, it produced his message.