Google is great when it comes to helping users harness its data to learn about our world, but a new tool geared toward children takes that dynamic to a new level by turning maps into a kind of game.
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Called “Verne: The Himalayas, ” the app introduces the character Verne, who is a friendly, 500-foot Yeti kids can use to move around the map scenes.
“For years, Google Maps has been adding imagery from all over the world”, Amar Gandhi and J R Schmidt from Google’s Creative Labs wrote in a blog post on 3 August.
“Verne: The Himalayas” was created using Unity Game Engine, a tool for building 3D games.
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Taking the idea further, Google turned this 3D imagery app to interactive educational playgrounds. Learning stuff about the sacred mountains while chasing yaks with a jetpack – as a Yeti? This is done via a disembodied voice that points out little facts like “the Himalayas are the tallest mountain range in the world”, for example. The app is a combination of a typical mobile game and 3D map. As Verne, you can run up Mt. Everest in seconds, skate across icy lakes, chase yaks, discover bits of information, ride a jetpack, play Himalayan instruments, and more. The app also enables to zoom into a Google street view to have a closer look at the scenery. You can in Google’s latest app, Verne: The Himalayas. Instead, Verne’s Himalayan adventures are made possible in part by a recent update to Google Earth that boasts fresh imagery from Landsat 8, along with new processing techniques for sharper pictures.
