Google World Wonders

Google World Wonders is a site which I contributed some Educational materials for a while ago, and have been waiting for it to launch - that wait ended today. Thanks to Keir Clarke for the tip-off once again. Nice of Google to tell those people who were involved...


The website offers the chance to explore a number of World Heritage sites. Here's the description from Google.

This new project from Google that allows you to take a virtual trip around 132 of the World's most famous historical and cultural sites. The sites includes historically important locations, such as Stonehenge and Pompeii and also natural wonders, such as the sandy dunes of Australia’s Shark Bay and the rock domes of Yosemite National Park. 
Google World Wonders uses Google Maps, Google Street View and Google Earth 3d models to explore these 132 historical locations. Each location also includes YouTube videos and photographs from Getty Images.

Information about each location is also provided by the UNESCO World Heritage Centre.

There is a cool spinning globe which shows the locations that are featured, and some of them also have additional educational resources which are available as downloadable zip files. There is a useful one on the Jurassic Coast, and the less familiar Ogasawara Islands.

 You can download a useful leaflet on how to use this for Primary and Secondary uses. This is the cover of the Secondary booklet, with 'stamps' showing some of the destinations. This design is used for the educational materials too...

The site offers the chance to explore a number of WORLD HERITAGE sites, and there are more to come (including the resources that I wrote for one of the destinations shown on the stamps....)


Wonder if this will feature in the Google GeoTeachers Institutes in June ?