SF Signal: Places Mentioned in Books

Places Mentioned in Books

Google Earth now includes a "book layer" that "allows you to explore locations through the lens of the world's books", as per Google LatLong Blog:

Now when you turn on the "Google Book Search" layer in Google Earth (found in the "Featured Content" folder in the "Layers" menu), you'll see small book icons scattered around the globe. When you click on one of the book icons, a pop-up balloon will display a snippet of text from one of Book Search's public domain books that references that location. You'll also find links to the Google Book Search page for that snippet so that you can learn more about what it has to say about the city or town.

For example, let's say that you're interested in Detroit, Michigan. After flying there in Google Earth, you'll find that one of the book icons is for "The Writings of Thomas Jefferson." Clicking on the book icon brings up the pop-up balloon with the following text snippet:

Hmmm...I wonder how many science fiction book references there are...

[via O'Reilly Radar]