Google Earth Zooms In on Africa

Google is delivering new features to Google Earth users thanks to a partnership with National Geographic. The map software adds new layers that merge National Geographic stories, journals and a live webcam with Google's satellite imagery to provide an interactive exploration of Africa.

The project is part of National Geographic's September "Tracing the Human Footprint" special. For the "African Megaflyover," J. Michael Fay snapped 92,000 high-resolution photographs of the continent over a period of one year. 500 scenes were selected by Fay for annotation in Google Earth.

"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," explains Google Earth CTO Michael Jones.

"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."

Zooming in offers shots of Africa from within 1 meter, much closer than Google Earth's standard 15-meter satellite imagery. The high-resolution pictures are noted by a red airplane icon.

Google Earth 3.0.0616 Beta is now available for download and additionally offers Pro and Plus users detailed images taken by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) of the damage caused by Hurricane Katrina.