The feature isn’t in place for everything at this point, but Google provides some examples like Google Maps searches for "President Birth Places," "London Olympics 2012," "US State Capitals," and others.

 

"In addition to making searching better, this is also an excuse for you to go polish your maps, since now the world can find them!" says James Macgill at the Google Lat Long Blog. "Remember, if we find an attribution in your feed we will link back to you."

In other news, Frank Taylor at the unofficial Google Earth Blog has posted a couple interesting items. The first is a how-to video on using Street View in Google Earth:

He also looks at how to set up Google Earth Options. "If you’re wondering what Google Earth experts do to make things run faster or better, then read this article," he says. Check it out here.

Frank Taylor on the Google Earth Blog talks about the dramatic images. Taylor writes, "Stefan at OgleEarth took the NASA photos from the NSIDC and created a couple of image overlays so you can see the view of the ice shelf break-up right where it happened in Google Earth."

"And, you can grab the transparency slider beneath the Places pane to compare the new photos to the base imagery in GE. Stefan’s post also shares a YouTube video showing a flyby of this huge ice break-up (note that the cliffs of ice are 60+ feet tall!).

Taylor points out that the Snow and Ice Data Center has some nice Google Earth KML visualizations. "My favorite is the sea ice extent time animation. This animation lets you see the extent of sea ice for either September or October from 1979 through the present. The pink lines show the normal average ice extent. Look at this past September 2007 ice extent report for the Arctic region for the dramatic drop in ice last summer."
 

"Some websites publish sensitive or confidential geographical information, which might leak State secrets and threaten security," Min said. He said those Web sites would be shut down.

On the Google Earth Blog, Frank Taylor wonders how this will affect Google. "So, what will this mean for mapping applications like Google Maps and Google Earth? Will Google be able to offer a China-sanitized version of the Google Earth layers to satisfy the Chinese authorities? They could modify the borders and remove unwanted placemarks from the Google Earth Community layers."

Taylor spoke to Google’s Michael Jones about the Chinese crack down on online maps. When asked about the China mapping application Jones said it "uses locally licensed data from reputable firms trusted by local authorities. We have no reason to expect that even the strictest enforcement of law would limit that map product in the Chinese market."

Taylor speculates that Google would make a modified version of Google Earth for Chinese users, "but I would hope they wouldn’t censor data for non-Chinese users."

Dr. Hickman, from the Geological Survey of Western Australia sent the Google Earth picture to a colleague who was able to confirm that it was an undiscovered meteorite crater. The crater is now named Hickman crater.

The crater is believed to be between 10,000 and 100,000 years old and is 885 feet across.

Frank Taylor writes on the Google Earth Blog," If you want to start searching for craters in Google Earth, you might want to load this super-collection showing placemarks of known and suspected meteor craters on Earth." 

"There are several folders which show various datasets of craters and some show the size of the craters as well. Also, be aware that not all things that look like meteor craters are. Besides the obvious volcano craters, there are other geological objects which appear as meteor craters but are not."

Dr. Hickman said anyone can use Google Earth to find craters created by meteorites. "Large meteorites hit every few thousand years, so when you consider that the landscape is millions of years old, there’s a lot of potential for meteorite craters out there," he told ScienceAlert.

Deepest Canyon on Earth
(Photo Credit: Google Earth Blog)

The collection includes the windiest place on Earth, the snowiest place on Earth and the largest natural feature on the planet to name just a few. The collection is called the "Extreme Series" and was created by someone using the pseudonym "satishgsk."

Taylor writes, "Once you load the Extreme Series  each placemark shows the location, and often contains a photo showing more details of each sight. You may also want to check out satishgsk’s post which includes bigger photos and information."

He also offers tips for viewing the Extreme Series. "You can select the Extreme Series folder and hit the "Play" button (looks like the play button on a TV remote) below the Places pane to watch a flying tour of each location."

"Go to the ‘Tools->Options’ (or "Preferences" on the Mac) and select ‘Touring->Show Balloon when Tour is Paused’ to have it automatically show the balloons during the tour playback. You also might want to adjust the "Tour Pause" speed to give more time to read the balloons."

It is a nice collection of the unusual and is worth checking out even if you have only a mild interest in such things.
 

Frank Taylor writes on the Google Earth Blog, "Thanks to a some nice work by Michael Kosowsky of HeyWhatsThat.com, you can download a simple KML file that will let you use Google Earth Sky to view when and where tonight’s lunar eclipse will occur for your location."

"Fast, simple, and free! The KML file for Google Sky is simple to load, and it will automatically guess your location on the Earth by guessing the location of your IP address. Make sure you select the ‘Switch to Sky’ mode when Google Earth prompts you. Double click on the ‘HeyWhat’s That.com’ placemark to position your view on the moon."

Taylor says that based on your location, you will be able to view the green lines of a "planisphere" which illustrates your horizon in Google Sky. Taylor goes on to explain," Cardinal points showing north, south, east, west; the positions of the moon and planets; and a special symbol representing the Earth’s shadow relative to the position of the moon. Not only that, but the time slider will be visible and you can drag the slider to determine precisely when the eclipse will occur."

The last total lunar eclipse that could be visible from the United Sates happened on August 28, 2007. North Americans will have a chance to see the next total lunar eclipse on December 21, 2010.
 

Frank Taylor writes," There’s a noticeable new area of imagery on the eastern edge of Spain covering Barcelona, which is copyrighted "Institut Cartogrfic de Catalunya". This imagery is not particularly high resolution – I would estimate about 1 meter/pixel. Not as good as Digital Globe, which is 60 cm/pixel."

He points out that there is new aerial imagery for a number of towns in Spain including, Valladolid, Leon, Burgos, Avila, Segovia, Salamanca, Andalucia, and Catalua. "The imagery for these towns is very good quality, but there is no attribution for who provided the imagery. Much of this imagery is 20 cm / pixel or better resolution….quite good," Taylor notes.

Here is a list of the most recent Google Earth updates according to Taylor’s blog.

Spain – Catalonia – including Barcelona; Valladolid, Leon, Burgos, Avila, Segovia, Salamanca, Andalucia, Catalua, San Sebastian, Bilbao, Pamplona, Vitoria-gasteiz, Crdoba, and Gijon

England – Kent, Norfolk

France – Tours

Brazil – So Paulo

USA
Ohio, US – New state-wide coverage
Connecticut, US – New state-wide coverage
Portland, Oregon, US
Delaware, US – Updated imagery
Nevada, US – Some new areas
New Jersey, US – Many areas updated
California, US – Areas east of LA have been updated, San Francisco
Philadelphia, PA, US – The entire metro area
Salt Lake City Area, UT, US – City and surrounding area (including ski mountains – now summertime)
Denver, CO, US
Virginia, US – Norfolk, Newport News
Hawaii, US – Mona Kea (observatory now visible), Maui, Kauai

Canada – Woodstock, Ontario; Vancouver (suburbs, not city)

Norway – Oslo

Iceland – Reykjavik

Russia – Parts of St. Petersburg

Belgium – Pascal says some images around Brussels have been reprocessed, but otherwise the same imagery.

Denmark – Roskilde

Azores – Terceira (the whole island), So Miguel (the whole island)

Australia – Sydney and surrounding areas (large area to northeast)

Romania – Bucharest

New Zealand – Auckland

South Africa – Remote areas have new high resolution from Cnes/Spot Image