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May 21, 2007
New Layer for German Google Earth
I believe this just happened over the weekend. A German GEB reader, Michael Gruhl, sent me an E-mail to let me know there was a new Google Earth layer just for the German version. I checked, and sure enough, under the Empfehlungen (Featured Content) layer there is a Neu! layer called Geo.de. This layer contains placemarks with travel reports to places in Germany and Europe with links to further information on the web site Geo.de.
Just a month ago I speculated whether Google might be considering localized layers when they did the French Elections layer. In that case, it turned out I had mistakenly not selected "All layers" in the Layers View parameter. But, this time you can only see this layer in the German version. My guess is this is because the web site is German only, so it doesn't make sense to convert the layer over to other languages. If anyone sees other built-in layers which are only available in a non-English version, please contact me or leave a comment here.
Posted by FrankTaylor at May 21, 2007 07:31 AM
Comments
Posted by: Timothy at May 21, 2007 10:18 AM
I agree to Timothy. That's really a point to discuss. I am from Austria and also use the English language version. I would not have found that layer without this blog entry.
An additional filter for localized content may be a way to go.
Posted by: Ernst M. Kofler at May 21, 2007 11:30 AM
true...I'm from Germany but I also use the English language version...didn't know about the layer either before.
Posted by: MiG at May 21, 2007 02:27 PM
I agree. Different layers should be location based and not language based.
Posted by: FLY at May 22, 2007 02:03 PM
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I think that Google are making a mistake by tying layers to a specific language version of the client. I can think of many scenarios where someone who speaks German has a non German language client. It makes far more sense to have some form of filter in the client such as country and language which allows you to choose what you want to see.