Google chooses five finalists

Five towns vie for best-modeled town

Google announced the finalists in its first-ever Model Your Town Competition on April 1 and opened up the public voting phase. Members of the Internet Community can vote on their favorite 3-D modeled town. You must (Voting ended some time ago so this link no longer works) cast a vote before May 1.

The Finalist are:

• Barranco (Lima, Peru)

• Braunshweig (Niedersachsen, Germany)

• Donostia (Gipuzkoa, Spain)

• Dursley (Gloucestershire, United Kingdom)

• West Palm Beach (Florida, United States)

Each team used Google SketchUp and Google Building Maker to create detailed 3D models of their towns. Each town can be viewed in Google Earth by anyone in the world.

Contest entries were judged on the accuracy of the scale models; photo texturing; how efficient the modeled towns loaded in Google Earth; the level of building detail; metadata or text information about each individual building; the coverage area of the town modeled and the elegance of the modeled buildings.

The winning town receives:

• $10,000 for the town’s public school district;

• A visit from Google;

• A video profile of the winning team featured on YouTube;

• A virtual tour of the town added to the Google Earth Website; and

• International Publicity

Google officials say Google Earth’s 3-D mapping tools benefit local governments and businesses by engaging the public in planning, fostering economic development, boosting tourism, simplifying navigation and geographic analysis; enhancing facilities management; supporting security and crime prevention, and facilitating emergency management.