Google has announced the latest enhancement to its popular Google Earth mapping application: a new YouTube video layer. Now, users can now zoom in on cities and landmarks and watch geo-tagged YouTube videos taken of that area or nearby. Michael Jones, the chief technologist for Google Earth, said:
"Our vision here is all about the sense of place. Photos show the local view, but videos add the sense of life. The combination of Earth's 'where' with Youtube's 'what' makes the combined experience that much more complete and compelling."
You will need to download the newest Google Earth client. Once installed, you'll find the new layer under the "featured content" section. Each video shows up as a little YouTube logo that can be clicked for more information, including a video thumbnail preview, how many views it has, and a community rating. You can read Google's official press release here.