Want to walk the ancient streets of Rome without leaving your home? Now you can, thanks to a new Ancient Rome 3D layer designed for Google Earth.

Click to enlarge

According to Google, users can ‘visit the Roman Forum, stand in the centre of the Colosseum, trace the footsteps of the gladiators in the Ludus Magnus, stand on the Rostra, swoop over the Basilica Julia, fly under the Arc of Constantine, or even examine the detail on the facade of the Basilica of Maxentius.’

Google Earth Chief Technology Advocate, Michael Jones said, “For centuries, people all over the world have been fascinated by Roman civilization. We’re delighted to share the culmination of years of work by scholars, historians, artists and others with Google Earth users around the world.”

The project has been developed by Google in collaboration with Past Perfect Productions and the University of California, Los Angeles and IATH at the University of Virginia.

Director for the Institute of Advanced Technology in the Humanities at the University of Virginia and Director of the Rome Reborn Project, Bernard Frischer said, ‘The project is the continuation of five centuries of research by scholars, architects and artists since the Renaissance who have attempted to restore the ruins of the ancient city with words, maps and images. The partnership with Google Earth is another step in creating a virtual time machine which our children and grandchildren will use to study the history of Rome.’

To view Ancient Rome 3D go to the “Layers” panel of Google Earth, select “Gallery”, then “Ancient Rome 3D”.

See: www.google.com