Google Earth Models Getting Better

Google Earth is doing some amazing things as highlighted with their announcement the other day of the Ancient Rome layer (shown in the video below).

As I talked about upon its release, this to me says that there is quite a fascinating future ahead when it comes to the virtual exploration of actual historical locations. The more of these things they work on, the greater Google Earth could become as an educational tool. It’s not all about history though. It’s already a pretty good educational tool for geography. And it’s only getting better in that regard too. Frank Taylor at Google Earth Blog writes:

Google Earth’s 3D dataset continues to grow and improve in quality over time. Many of the most famous tourist sites around the world are viewable in 3D. And, if you haven’t visited these sites recently, it’s worth checking back. Google has been gradually improving the resolution of the 3D terrain around the world. Places like the Grand Canyon, Mount St. Helens, and the Matterhorn are much better than they were when Google Earth was first released. Famous sites like Stonehenge, Christ the Redeemer, Pyramids of Giza, and many others have recently had improved 3D models added. Many of these models are coming from modelers who submit them to the 3D Warehouse and were selected to be included in the Google Earth 3D Buildings layer.

The 3D Warehouse is an online repository of 3D models where anyone can search and download models. People who have Google accounts can freely publish their own as well.