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Google Earth launches 3D Berlin project

Berlin is now the first German city that can be viewed in 3-D format on internet program Google Earth, the project’s organiser Berlin Partner GmbH announced.

Google Earth launches 3D Berlin project
Berlin's Bode Museum with the TV tower in the background. Photo: DPA

Users can take a virtual tour of some 500,000 buildings, 80 detailed models of landmarks, the company said on Monday. They can also tour the interior of the Reichstag Building (the seat of the German Parliament), the new Hauptbahnhof station, the Sony Center and Olympic Stadium.

“It may not be a perfect representation of the city of Berlin, but the resulting virtual image conveys an amazingly close and realistic impression of the city’s streets and even entire quarters,” Berlin Partners said in a statement.

The project, which currently covers 10 percent of the city, will eventually have 890 square kilometers in three-dimensional images, organisers said, adding that they plan to present the project in several weeks at the MIPIM international real estate trade fair in Cannes, France.

Berlin’s Economy Minister Harald Wolf said he was happy that the project had been made with a “business location” like Berlin in mind, adding that the technology would be useful for companies, service providers and universities to develop new products. The new map may also be used by city administrators for urban planning, he said.

The project, aided by the state of Berlin, began two years ago, and developers made aerial photographs of the city and measured rooftops with lasers to create a realistic model of the capitol city.