Google Earth Tour: Ancient Rome
Google Earth allows us here at Heritage Key to take your bog-standard map and bring it to life by flying over the still standing ancient wonders of the world, and allowing us to explore them through aerial photography and 3D models. Satellite imagery has proved to be invaluable in archaeology, used to locate features which may not be spotted from the ground. Such aerial images, when combined with models created by budding enthusiasts, allow for anyone to explore an environment with a real feel for the area and its historical features.
Lets face it - your standard tourist map with little pictures of famous relics don't cut it in a modern world where we can find numerous photographs and articles on pretty much any historical artefact and building we want.
I've taken the liberty of compiling together a Google Earth tour of Ancient Rome, complete with images and key facts about ancient relics in this simply amazing city. The tour enables you to fly over and explore the sites and their surroundings, and where you see a Heritage Key logo, you can click it and you'll see more information about the adjacent landmark.
To view this Google Earth Tour, you will need to download additional software created by Google. You will require Google Earth 5.0 which will need to be installed in order to explore the aerial photography in a 3D environment. Once the software is installed, you will need to return to this webpage and download Google Earth Plugin (Your browser should meet minimum requirements). the Plugin can be downloaded by selecting it in the panel below:
To open webpages in a new window, right click the link in the information window and select "Open link in new window". This will enable you to view the link in a full web browser.
You can also download this tour to your computer by clicking here, selecting "Save" and then running the file. It will automatically open Google Earth and begin the Heritage Key: Ancient Rome tour.
Keep an eye out for more Google Earth tours from Heritage Key!
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that is very cool and a great way to understand an ancient city in the midst of a modern one!
This really is amazing, such a cool way to see the historical layers of a city.
So much cheaper and comfortable than flying to Rome with Ryanair! Okay, so this obviously doesn't beat seeing the real things first hand, but it is a great way of getting your bearings in the city before going to visit. I wonder how much flights are at the moment...
Thanks for the tour Prad - fantastic views, really gives a sense of the scale of ancient Rome! It's great to have someone show you around - I couldn't for the life of me get my viewfinder on Google Earth to do anything like this. I obviously had a misspent youth not playing enough video games, so my virtual movement skills are, er, limited...
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