Hamburg to become first 3D city in Google Earth

Hamburg (Germany) - Google announced that will integrate "hundreds" of 3D buildings of Hamburg, Germany into its application "Earth." According to a report published by Spiegel Online, the models will find their way into the software "within a few days" and make Hamburg Google's first 3D city.

Spokesperson Stefan Keuchel told the publication that the company plans "to create the ultimate 3D globe" which will allow people to go on interactive journeys through cities. The geographic data will be tied to local search data, which for example, will display restaurants in a street, according to Spiegel.

During a presentation, Google showed the new feature in virtual flights over Hamburg, but Spiegel noted that 3D comes with a downside: the additional data requires additional data and even with broadband connections there will be a delay "of a few seconds" until the 3D environment can be displayed.

Last week, Google released the final version of Google Earth 4, which came with numerous new 3D objects in various cities around the world.

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