Following the Where 2.0 conference (bringing together “the people, projects, and issues building the new technological foundations and creating value in the location industry”) on May 29th, an enhancement to Google Earth will be available for download which enables binary sound files to be linked to geo-coordinates within the program. This means that along with all of the other cool features Google Earth offers, you’ll be able to hear what a place sounds like — from “the cracking of glaciers to midnight in the jungle.”
The sound files will be provided by Wild Sanctuary, a company whose “worldwide collection represents over 3,500 hours of wild soundscapes and nearly 15,000 species.” Hopefully future versions of Google Earth will allow user-submitted sounds, or integration with other GeoTag-supported sound file websites like Freesound. While we’re at it, allow video too!
(Thanks, Mike!)