Google Consolidates “Places” On Earth, Will Fill In The Blanks On Maps

Google is seeking to simplify and consolidate some of the multi-media content on Google Earth associated with particular places. Accordingly, it has created a “Places” layer that tries to bring together a variety of content on a single page about a place. A gray box, which Google likens to a “stack of photographs,” indicates one […]

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Google is seeking to simplify and consolidate some of the multi-media content on Google Earth associated with particular places. Accordingly, it has created a “Places” layer that tries to bring together a variety of content on a single page about a place. A gray box, which Google likens to a “stack of photographs,” indicates one of these pages.


Places

Clicking the box brings up a multi-media display that offers still images, videos and text about the particular location. Here’s an example for Ellis Island (New York):

Ellis Island on the map

Ellis Island

Separately, Google said that it will start filling out countries in Google Maps where there are only limited data about a place. In the past it has not added details for countries where the data have been sparse or very incomplete. In response to user requests, Google has said that will now change.


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About the author

Greg Sterling
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Greg Sterling is a Contributing Editor to Search Engine Land, a member of the programming team for SMX events and the VP, Market Insights at Uberall.

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