Highlights:
What's New in Google Earth?
   March Layer Updates
   Expanded Weather Radar
Google Cities in 3D Program
Google Sky on Maps

Explore Further:
Most Extreme Places on Earth
South China Sea Project
Tips & Tricks: Hiding Placemarks
Placemarks of the Month
April Calendar
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Please note that Google Earth 4.2 was updated in mid-September. Make sure you download the latest version. Most of the content mentioned in this newsletter will only work properly on Google Earth 4.2.

What's New in Google Earth?

Each month we highlight the newest additions to Google Earth content. If you haven't been subscribing to Sightseer for long, check the forum for previous editions.

March Layer Updates

• Roads - 94 countries have additional road details including 58 in Africa, 32 in Asia, and 4 in the Caribbean. Just turn on the Roads layer and start exploring.
• Business Listings - Business layers like Dining, Lodging, Coffee Shops, etc. (which are found under the Places of Interest layer folder) are now available for Brazil and Russia.
• New Zealand - The New Zealand tourism board has added some placemarks with details about their airports. They are found under the following layer folder: Gallery->Travel and Tourism->100% Pure New Zealand->New Zealand Airports
• Geographic Web - Wikipedia entry placemarks and the Panoramio photo layers have new additions. The Panoramio layer now has over 5 million photos.

Expanded Weather Radar

Just in time for spring, we have added additional coverage to the live Weather Radar in Google Earth. Now, in addition to the US coverage released last November, we now cover parts of Europe, Canada, Alaska, and Puerto Rico. Just look under the Weather layer folder for Radar data - it's from Weather.com and is updated every 15 minutes.

Tip: If you look at the Information placemark, you can find a link to load a six hour radar time animation.

Google Cities in 3D Program

A 3D model of a city is extremely useful to potential visitors, developers, investors, preservationists, property owners, businesses, public officials, and more. By establishing a 3D representation of a city on Google Earth, local governments can more effectively engage the public and boost tourism by enabling prospective visitors to plan their visit in advance.

If your local government is like many around the world, you've invested in developing a 3D model representing buildings in your city's downtown--perhaps your entire jurisdiction. Or, maybe you haven't yet produced a 3D model, but you've collected the geospatial data necessary for producing a model. With Google's Cities in 3D Program, your local government can share 3D data with the public by adding a model of your city to Google Earth. The Cities in 3D Program represents a continuation of our efforts to engage with content providers, including government agencies, and provide them with tools for making the information they produce more accessible to Internet users.

Google Sky on Maps

Those of you who are regular Google Earth users already know about our Sky mode which lets you view the night sky as seen by the world's best telescopes. Sky was released for Google Earth last August and updated in January. In mid-March we announced a Google Maps version of Sky so you can view this beautiful data in a web browser too. Visit the new Sky in Google Maps at sky.google.com and explore the universe.

Most Extreme Places on Earth

A member of the Google Earth Community has been highlighting the most extreme places on Earth and made the collection available for viewing in Google Earth. The collection documents: the tallest bridge, the windiest place, the snowiest place, the wetest place, and more. It also shows unusual extremes like the place with the largest flower, or the saltiest ocean on the Earth. View the Extreme Series and start exploring the placemarks.

South China Sea Project

We always enjoy seeing people use our products to shed light on global issues. One great example is the layer created by the UNEP/GEF South China Sea Project. This large Global Environment Facility project, implemented by the United Nations Environment Programme, is working to develop regionally co-ordinated programmes of action designed to reverse environmental degradation, such as the loss of coastal habitats and the over-exploitation of fisheries in the South China Sea and Gulf of Thailand.

According to the Project Director, Dr. John Parnetta, this layer provides "an overview of the regional network of government ministries and departments, research institutes, and universities involved in the implementation of project activities; the project's suite of habitat demonstration sites and pilot activities bordering the South China Sea basin; and information and data for 135 mangrove, coral reef, seagrass, and wetlands sites of the South China Sea studied during the project."

Tips & Tricks: Hiding Placemarks

You can hide placemarks while still keeping them selected (checked). This is useful if you are playing a tour or recording a movie with these placemarks, but do not want the placemarks to appear in the 3D viewer. To do this:

1. Right click the appropriate placemark in the Places panel or 3D viewer.
2. Choose Properties.
3. Click the Style,Color tab.
4. For both Label and Icon, change the opacity to 0%.
5. Click OK.

Placemarks of the Month

New Meteor Crater Discovered with Google Earth - See post
Brightest Event in the Universe - See post
Follow a Deer in Google Earth - See post

April Calendar

Click on the links below to fly to places associated with this month's events. Don't forget to click on the Placemarks in Google Earth to read the descriptions.

April   2 - Pirates in India
April   4 - Francis Drake Knighted
April 10 - Grave of Picasso
April 14 - Foundation Stone of Cathedral
April 16 - Salta, Argentina Founded
April 22 - First Earth Day
April 25 - Suez Canal Construction

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