Google’s virtual terrestrial globe introduces a new feature allowing users to embed their own images on the Google Earth map.
Google has just unveiled the integration of a new creation tool in Google Earth. With it, users can now create a story based on locations or along a specific route, adding their own images. The tool is collaborative and can therefore be fed by several users at the same time.
Once finalized, the project, fueled by photos and texts from users, looks like a sort of travel PowerPoint, narrative, which takes the viewer from one place to another. A function that should greatly simplify the creation of virtual tours. Here is how to use it.
1. Go to Google Earth
In principle, you have several options for going to Google Earth: directly from your browser using Google Chrome, or installing the dedicated client on your computer. However, this new creation tool integrated into Google Earth is only available from the web version of the service.
-
Go to Google Earth from your browser (Free)
2. Start a new project
To create a new project, click on the dedicated icon in the sidebar then on New project.
Give your project a title, and enter a brief description if you want.
3. Add elements to your project
The project you are going to create looks like a video slideshow, quite similar to what you can produce when you make a PowerPoint presentation.
The only difference here is that Google Earth automatically navigates between each element by making you fly from one point to another on the globe. To add a new item to your story, click New Item.
You can then Find a place and add it, Add a marker, draw a line or a shape to highlight a specific path, for example, or even add a Slide in full screen mode in which you can enter text and add personal images.
If you wish to add a place, type the name of the desired place in the search field, and validate by pressing the Enter key on the keyboard. Once the location is displayed in the floating pane, click Add to project then click Save to insert the element into your project.
For each element added to your project, don’t forget to click the Edit button, shown by a pencil, in order to customize certain elements: titles, text, view of a monument (capture this view button), image taken from Google Street View, etc.
Each new element that you add takes place after the previous one, in the form of a summary.
4. Preview your project
Once you’ve added enough items to your project, Google Earth lets you view it. Just press the Play button to start playing the project.
Then use the directional arrows on the keyboard or the dedicated button to move to the next item in your presentation. The Google Earth globe should come alive and move with the satellite view whenever you change position.
5. Export your project
All projects created in Google Earth are automatically saved to the Google Drive of the connected Google account.
You can also export the project file locally to your hard drive. To do this, click on the options button, represented by three small dots, then select Export as KML file.
While it is currently only possible to create this type of project through the Google Earth web interface, the project saved on Google Drive or exported to your hard drive can be opened on the go. Google Earth desktop and mobile application. It will then be possible to start the video playback of the visit as you imagined it.