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Sounds to come alive on Google Earth

May 11, 2007 10:09 IST
Here's good news for Internet enthusiasts. Ethnic sounds - right from the Brazilian rain forest to Arctic ice sheets - will now accompany the location-sighting venture on Google Earth.

"Our objective is to bring the world alive," said Bernie Krause, whose California-based company Wild Sanctuary created the software to embed sound files into relevant locations on Google Earth.

Krause spent 40 years collecting over 3,500 hours of sound recordings from across the world, including bird and whale songs and the crackle of melting glaciers.

"We have all the continents of the world, high mountains and low deserts," Krause was quoted as saying by New Scientist.

He hoped it will make virtual visitors more aware of the impact of human activity on the environment in the years since he began making and collecting the recordings.

Users will be able to hear various modern-day sounds at a particular location, then travel back in time to compare them with noises of decades gone by.

Krause plans to have the software ready with 26 sounds for demonstration on May 29. He promised his sound files are of a consistent quality and enriched with time, date and weather information.

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