google earth tour

After Heritage Key's recent video interview with John Julius Norwich on his new book "The Great Cities in History" (which you should definately watch here) I wrote an article looking at the greatest ancient cities that Lord Norwich selected. With cities across the globe and ranging from the Greeks and Romans, to the Egyptians and Muslims, as far as the Indus Valley and Chinese to the Mayan Civilisation.

Following on from the amazing high resolution satellite images of the Pyramids of Giza, it's worth noting that the Pyramid is a structure that is seen across the world. The pyramid form was a popular one in ancient times - when you mention the Pyramids, people will instantly think of the Ancient Egyptians, and the Great Pyramid of Giza.

A recent interview by Lyn with author of North Africa: The Roman Coast, Ethel Davies, inspired me to take another look at Roman archaeological finds across this somewhat forgotten continent. When most people think of the Roman Empire, they immediately envision the temples, statues and amphitheatres spanning across Europe.

Atlantis has got to be one of the world's most longstanding myths. Devised by Plato over 2,500 years ago, its popularity has rarely waned, and has been the birthplace for some of humanity's most truly bizarre theories. From Gibraltar to the Aegean, it seems everyone's had their say on the whereabouts of the mysterious island, that was supposedly created by Poseidon. Not all of Atlantis' proponents, it must be said, are total crackpots. There's logic, bathymetric studies and topographical data to back their claims - however spurious they may frequently seem. Others most definitely do fit the conspiracy theorist bill, however, and you'll see from some of these possibilities that Plato's baby has been stretched to within an inch of its life to squeeze some credibility into a hopeless hunch. Yet despite all this hot air - or because of it - Atlantis still manages to capture the imagination of people the world over, and is rarely out of the news across the globe.

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Imagine being one of the local farmers in Xi'an, China, drilling a new water well only to break into a pit containing one of the most unbelievable sights that a man can ever see. Over 6,000 life sized terracotta figures buried under the ground and never seen by anybody for centuries.

The enigmatic soldiers hold many myths and mysteries about them, but they are certainly one of the most captivating finds of the 20th Century. There are three pits in the region, as well as other museum structures which can be seen from the air thanks to Google Earth. Another tour which this time takes us to the site of the Terracotta army, looking at the various areas around the Qin Emperor Tomb.

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.

Continuing the Google Earth Tours here at Heritage Key, which have so far covered Rome, Athens and London, this week's tour looks at Ancient sites across the historically rich nation of Egypt. An ancient civilisation which boasts some of the most famous relics in the world, such as The Great Pyramid of Giza and the Temple at Thebes.

London is a massive metropolis, buzzing with energy and bags of history to boot. Well now you can see the city's top ancient sights, all handily presented in our custom Google Earth flyover. For there's plenty more to London than its monstrous museums - though they're all pretty good too - and this map gives you the chance to plan a first-time visit, tell a friend or just take a day out to explore London's proud heritage. There's no shortage of events either; check our calendar page for the pick of the city's listings, which include this year's British Archaeology Festival. In short London's a fantastic place to get your fill of the ancient world, and our map makes seeing all its ancient nooks and crannies just that bit easier.

The tour below utilises aerial photography with 3D models to give a realistic and innovative look at how the ancient world still exists in our very modern world. The tour is complete with clickable Heritage Key logos, which will link you to articles on this website, as well as photographs from our Heritage Key Flickr photo pool.

Last week I used Google Earth to show you a tour around the ancient relics of Rome, flyover over the city and looking at all the 3D models with clickables to get extra information from Heritage Key. This week, I've decided to spruce up Jon's tour of the Acropolis of Ancient Greece so you can have a look at one of the most magnificent relics from the ancient age, as well as the New Acropolis Museum.

Again, the tour utilises aerial photography with 3D models to give a realistic and innovative look at how the ancient world still exists in our very modern world. The tour is complete with those clickable Heritage Key logos once again, which will link you to articles on this website, as well as photographs from our Heritage Key Flickr photo pool.

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.