Vermonter to Put Small Towns on Google Earth via Volunteers

Frequent Directions Magazine contributor Gary Smith (”How Big is an Acre”) is featured in his local paper, The Burlington Free Press, as he implements Google Earth in Shelburne and Essex, Vermont. Smith is leading the charge to get the small towns’ public buildings (no private houses, due to privacy issues) into 3D in Google Earth. How?

To implement the program, the towns were asked to provide 10 to 12 computer-literate community members who would attend a day-long training to learn to “draw” the buildings in a virtual landscape. Each volunteer is asked to create at least 10 buildings, which will be housed in Google’s “digital warehouse” and be made available to the public.

The program, which Smith created, is being funded by Google, and is provided free to the communities. In exchange for their time, volunteers will receive licenses for Google Earth Pro, a $400 program.

Town employees will be trained too. The towns see value in the 3D data both for planning and for expose to the rest of the world. Any small/medium-sized town in the U.S. is elegable to participate in Smith’s program, which will continue to be offered free of charge.