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Pennsylvania to Use Google Earth Mapping Tool to Promote Tourism

Posted on: Wednesday, 13 December 2006, 06:01 CST

Pennsylvania is to use mapping website Google Earth to promote state tourism, by enabling virtual Civil War trails.

The state will provide a $285,000 grant to support a partnership between Google Earth, Carnegie Mellon University, NASA, the Pennsylvania Tourism Office and the National Civil War Museum.

The partners will develop an infrastructure to display and promote Pennsylvania's Civil War trails as a travel destination and enhance community engagement in emerging interactive technologies.

"This project will further promote Pennsylvania as a tourist destination, increase visitation and expenditures, and could potentially be applied in support of other applications throughout Pennsylvania," said Pennsylvania governor Edward Rendell.

Users can see a panoramic view along a trail, zoom in to read the inscription on a Civil War monument, or go back in time to witness the change of seasons on a historic battlefield.

"The investment we're making today will accelerate the adoption and use of technology, including the use of interactive marketing for tourism, which will drive regional economic development," Mr Rendell said.

Google Earth technology provides for a visual display of information about a specific location. Building on this platform, the Pennsylvania tourism office will incorporate a new technology developed through the global connections project, a partnership that includes CMU, Google and NASA's Ames research center.

Known as Gigapan - short for gigapixel panoramas - the technology combines thousands of digital images to create a panoramic image in excess of one billion pixels. When combined with time-lapse, users can explore the space through time as well.

Source: Datamonitor

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