Google Earth Teams Up With National Geographic

Monday September 19, 2005

"Have you ever dreamed of Africa while reading National Geographic? The exotic photographs and thoughtful articles take you there with a magical sense of place. Today we embraced that magic by releasing Google Earth data layers that index National Geographic stories, images, journals, and even a live webcam in Africa.
Just start Google Earth, enable the National Geographic layers, and begin exploring.
Across Africa, you will see the familiar yellow National Geographic logo. Zoom in to see the title of each feature article or photograph. Click the icon and a pop-up balloon shows a photo and description along with links to the content. Follow those links to read the entire story right where it happened. Not only will you learn about Jane Goodall's Fifi, you'll see her home. Joining the stories and images are layers for National Geographic Sights & Sounds multimedia resources, a live WildCam in Botswana, and a collection of Mike Fay's Megaflyover images."

Let me tell you something: I've been addicted to that Botswana WildCam now for like three days. The crickets are chirping in the background at me right now and about every three seconds, I change tabs in Firefox and see what's going on at Pete's Pond. So far, I've been able to see a mother elephant with her baby, a bull elephant, some warthogs, a hyena (I think), lots of deer-like things, and some guinea fowl. I also heard a roar last night that had me riveted to the screen for a good 30 minutes, but never saw anything.

And now, Google Earth has integrated National Geographic stuff. I am never going to get any work done at this rate. Here's my first impression of the Google Earth/Nat'l Geographic stuff, and man, is it ever cool.

See all those National Geographic yellow squares? There were about 25 more all around the center there of Botswana, and all those red airplanes signify where Mike Fay's Megaflyover images are available. The black film icons indicate where you can watch a movie or streaming Webcam; in this case I had offered to me a Mega Flyover of Africa and the Botswana WildCam. All in all, an incredibly rich resource that I'm excited to have found out about.