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Google Makes Trek to Las Vegas; Lands at Creation Entertainment’s 40th Anniversary Star Trek Convention

Announcement
August 17, 2006

Wherever and whenever science fiction fans gather, an appreciation of technology – and alien visitations – can’t be far behind. This year, there will be an unlikely visitor attending one of the biggest gatherings of science fiction fans, the 40th Anniversary Star Trek Convention in Las Vegas, hosted by Creation Entertainment. Google will join the more than 15,000 enthusiasts who make the annual trek to this memorable federation of fans.

In conjunction with this week’s convention, Google launched a special site (www.google.com/trekfan) that provides developers with information on a number of Google tools, including Earth, Maps and SketchUp. From far and wide, Google users – many of whom are science fiction fans – have created thousands of imagery overlays for Google Earth, many illustrating their appreciation for all things other-worldly. While in Las Vegas to help celebrate Star Trek’s 40th anniversary, the Google booth will showcase these science fiction scenes and structures, created by users, highlighting intergalactic life.

And because there is no better place than the vortex of pop culture, sci-fi and technology to introduce a cool tool that offers a better way to display visual information on handheld devices, Google today announced the availability of mobile KML (Keyhole Markup Language), which enables developers to illustrate information to overlay on Google Maps for mobile phones.

Already available on the desktop through Google Maps and Google Earth, now developers can more easily share palm-sized versions of their favorite Earth-bound destinations. Beginning today, mobile phone users will be able to view the same KML files they access on Earth and Maps on the PC – directly on their phone. Throughout deep space, fans will be able to view alien outposts on Earth directly from their handheld devices. For those who prefer to stay on planet Earth, or end up in Las Vegas, mobile KML offers mobile phone users a bird’s-eye view of the 24-hour playground.

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