Explore Our Planet with Google Earth's Voyager

If you’re anything like me, then you’ve spent quite a bit of time traversing the globe… on Google Earth. Since its release in 2001, Google Earth has been helping take the edge off for people who suffer from wanderlust, by allowing you to explore the globe from your computer. Google Earth’s update that was released last week makes it even more of a time-sink – there are a lot of really cool new features, and it can now be accessed straight from your browser.

The first awesome new feature is called “Voyager.” This is a section that is all about discovering new parts of the world and learning more about them as you do it. Google Earth has always encouraged exploring, but this new feature goes even further. It offers curated content that takes you around the world in what is essentially themed journeys around the globe that come with rich media like 360 videos, and Street Views including inside buildings and underwater.

The guided tours around the world come from companies that Google partnered with, such as Digital Globe and the BBC. They are providing rich, detailed tours that take you to exotic locales. There are currently around 40 different journeys you can take, but new tours are supposed to be added regularly. Each voyage that you go on takes you to roughly ten locations, swooping around the globe as you go on to the next location.

Two other cool features that come along with Voyager are city guides that take you to different points of interest within a city, and the option to send virtual post cards from these locations. This post card feature is unique to the mobile app. And, once you’ve traveled through all of the guided tours, you can use the new feature called “I’m feeling lucky,” that will digitally transport you to a far-away place on the planet where Google will give you a card that has local trivia on it.

Google Earth has always been a great way to spend some of your leisure time by searching for fascinating locales across the globe, and this is truer than ever with the latest update. The ability to go on guided tours and discover new aspects of locations and cultures has opened up a whole new way of utilizing Google Earth to satisfy your wanderlust. As one Google employee said, “you use Maps to find your way, Earth to get lost.”