You’ve probably come across Google Earth, the service that allows you to travel all over the world from the comfort of your browser or dedicated app. It recently got an update where Google showcased the new Google Earth, but this next feature sounds like something we’ve seen before.
In the future, Google will want users to post stories, video and photos on Google Earth, which is rather interesting but not odd at all.
The Stories format was popularized by Snapchat and copied by Facebook across its ecosystem and now Google wants to bake in that functionality on Google Earth.
According to Reuters, Google Earth Director, Rebecca More told the publication that regular users will be able to create their own unedited content for private or public use in the next two or three years.
“The story of your family history, the story of your favourite hiking trip- it could be anything. It doesn’t have to be profound,” she was quoted as saying in the “I am the Amazon” project in Sao Paulo.
Currently, Google Maps allows you to post photos of a place you’ve been so that other people can have an idea of how the location looks like. The addition of this feature will now make Google Earth a social network, which would be odd for an app that was used as a tool rather than a social network.
This news also comes after Google decided to combine both the free version of Google Earth and the Pro version into a single product. Google decided to make the Pro version free in 2015 and this was great news to professionals especially in the GIS industry. The new update is version 7.3.0.3287 and it will be available at the Google Earth website. Check out the highlights of the release here.
