The Google Earth Tour Builder tool is the fruit of a joint project between Google Creative Lab and Google Earth Outreach that is meant to help record, share and tell stories using Google Maps. Tour Builder is still a beta product, so you might encounter some bugs or that experience of using the tool might seem half-baked at times.
Creating tour with the Builder is very easy, and you only need to install the Google Earth plugin, give the project a name, add an introductory photo and a description. Locate on the map where you want your story to begin, point a marker on that location, and describe the following places as you embed other photos and videos. You can then dive into Street View or select the 3D view option to make your story more realistic.
Tour Builder was released in honor of Veterans Day, also because Tour Builder was inspired by Google’s work on other previous projects like Map The Fallen and VetNet. One the Google Maps blog, Sean Askay, Google Earth Outreach, and Carrie Laureno, Google Creative Lab & Google Veterans Network said the following:
As we’ve worked with veterans and their family members on projects like Map The Fallen and VetNet, we’ve heard many amazing stories and seen how helpful storytelling can be. So we thought it might be useful to make a very simple storytelling tool. One hallway conversation led to a joint project between the Google Creative Lab and Google Earth Outreach, and today, in honor of Veterans Day, we’re excited to share Tour Builder—a simple tool for recording and sharing stories on a map.
Though originally inspired by veterans, we quickly realized that Tour Builder has the potential be a simple, useful tool for any aspiring storyteller. You could be a high school history teacher explaining the geography of the Revolutionary War, a musician updating your fans from the road, or a grandmother who wants to share her family’s story of service in WWII.
Follow the download links from below to download Google Earth and the Google Earth Plugin and start creating stories with the Google Earth Tour Builder tool. Also, have a look at the demo video presenting the tool in action.
Download the latest version of Google Earth for PC, Mac, or Linux
Download the Google Earth Plugin for Windows and Mac OS X 10.6+