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The amazing things about Google Earth


africa megaflyover

Google Earth Voyager layer update: Go on safari

Back in June, timed to coincide with the 10th anniversary of Google Earth, Google introduced some new layers to Google Earth under the heading ‘Voyager’. Today, the layer has received an update and includes a new sub-layer named ‘Animal View’ that is described as ‘exotic creatures in their natural habitat’.

Many of the locations are high resolution aerial images captured as part of the National Geographic African Megaflyover. It also features Street View from various locations, including the recently added Kenyan imagery, Underwater Street View, Street View captured from a boat travelling along the Amazon, and many more locations around the world.


Jigokudani Monkey Park, Japan.

High Resolution African Animals in Google Earth

Nearly six years ago, the “National Geographic Magazine” layer was added to Google Earth. While we haven’t discussed it much lately, it remains one of the great gems inside of Google Earth. You can find it under the “Gallery” layer in Google Earth.
One of the best parts of that layer is the “Africa Megaflyover” photos that were captured by Michael Fay. Michael took over 92,000 photos while flying across parts of Africa, and hundreds of them are visible in Google Earth. The quality of the images is stunning, as shown here.

camels.jpg

User “Reggie98” in the Google Earth Community built a great collection of placemarks to highlight the African animals captured in these photos, and organized them by animal type. The original post is from 2005, but still does a great job of showing off the animals.
cattle.jpg

There is a lot of great stuff to explore in the National Geographic layer, so go check it out. Also, with nearly 1.3 million subscribers, the Google Earth Community continues to be a great way to meet other Google Earth users and find answers to your questions. If you haven’t been out there in a while, we certainly suggest you check it out.

MegaFlyover Photographer to Receive Lindbergh Award

Camels in Google EarthJ. Michael Fay, is the National Geographic Magazine photographer who took over 90,000 aerial photos of Africa. A sample of 500 of the photos are shown in the Google Earth Megaflyover layer (see the “Featured Content->National Geographic->Megaflyover” layer). It has just been announced that Michael Fay will be receiving the honorary 2007 Lindbergh Award. The honorary Lindbergh Award is presented to individuals who have made significant contributions over many years toward improving our quality of life by balancing technological advancements and the preservation of our environment. The Lindbergh Award is given by the Lindbergh Foundation which is a legacy of Charles Lindbergh, the famous aviator who was the first to cross the Atlantic using his custom Spirit of St. Louis aircraft. The grandson of Charles, Eric Lindbergh, will be present during the award ceremony. Congratulations to Michael Fay, a well-earned honor!
Related: See some of the Megaflyover photos in Google Earth showing African animals.

See African Animals in High Resolution in Google Earth

Camels in Google EarthWhen Google first released the National Geographic layer to Google Earth last September, the African Megaflyover images were an instant hit. Sometimes people browsing the African continent in Google Earth will be surprised to notice a tiny image and zoom in close to find a really high resolution image of a village or animals. (Yes, shown here is a screenshot from Google Earth of an aerial photo of some camels). If you turn on the African Megaflyover sub-layer under the Gallery->National Geographic layer you will see about 500 little red airplane icons appear over the continent of Africa. Double click on the planes to zoom in and see what you find.
Someone named “Reggie98” posted a really nice collection of placemarks which has the photos of African animals categorized according to type and put into placemark subfolders. You can find: elephants, hippos, goats, flamingos, seals, and more. Simply open the folder “African animals” and you will see the list of animals, or double click on the photo icons as you zoom across Africa. This is a more informative and organized way to examine these wonderfully detailed photos from the National Geographic collection. This story was first posted in October last year, but most of you have probably not seen it.

Categorized African Animals in Google Earth

[NOTE: Make sure you have the “Gallery->National Geographic Magazine->African Megaflyover” layer turned on in your Layer’s pane on the left side of GE. The red airplane icons show the location of the high resolution photos taken by Michael Fay.]
There have been some discussions at the Google Earth Community trying to find and categorize the animals in the pictures from the National Geographic Megaflyover of Africa collection. Someone named “Reggie98” has posted a really nice collection which has the animals categorized according to type and put into placemark subfolders. You can find: elephants, hippos, goats, flamingos, seals, and more. You can look at his post here. Simply open the folder “African animals” and you will see the list of animals, or click on the photo icons as you zoom across Africa.
This is a more informative and organized way to examine these wonderfully detailed photos from the National Geographic collection. I hope Reggie98 continues to collect more details from the 500 photos included in the Megaflyover collection.