Where 2.0: Sounds of the World Added to Google Maps

Google has been making a lot of noise for years, but until yesterday the company's products were silent. Wild Sanctuary links the soundscapes it has recorded at locations around the globe with the pan-and-zoomable Google Maps. Company CEO Bernie Krause played 10 Google Maps "places" during his presentation at O'Reilly Media's Where 2.0 conference in San Jose.

Among the stops on his audio journey were the Galapagos Islands, where the Darwin finches were in full throat, and Jane Goodall's Gombe chimpanzee reserve in Africa. You can "play" the locations in either Google Earth or Google Maps (the former requires that the program is installed on your PC). Soundscapes are available for about two dozen spots around the globe, including an undersea recording of humpback whales off the coast of Maui.

Wild Sanctuary's soundscapes serve an important scientific mission as well. According to the site, more than 40 percent of the habitats originally recorded by the service have been lost due to "habitat degradation and human noise."

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