By Steve Ranger, 1 September 2006 14:30
NEWS
British Airways has added Google Earth technology to its website to give passengers more information about their destination.
The airline is using the satellite imaging technology on www.ba.com to offer travellers info on tourist hotspots and details of hotels they can book through the website, by allowing them to zoom in on their destination. Customers can also click on a dialogue box in Google Earth to go to the BA website to book a flight.
BA's head of brands and marketing communications, Jayne O'Brien, said the tool will allow customers to familiarise themselves with the local area, hotels and amenities.
Users have to have Google Earth already installed and then add the BA 'layer' which adds details on the destinations in the airline's World Offer fare sale.
To get the most from the BA layer customers are recommended to download version 4.0 of Google Earth - currently in beta.
Comments
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1. Marc
Ah, interesting -- has anyone else noticed the TV advertisement, too, which proudly uses footage of someone "Googletrotting" with the program?
2. anonymous
Can someone give me a URL to a page on the BA website where we can preview this. Have searched around www.ba.com but can find any examples or any reference to it.
3. anonymous
Re: "Can someone give me a URL to a page on the BA website where we can preview this. Have searched around www.ba.com but can find any examples or any reference to it."
There's a huge ad on the main page of BA.com about it
It takes you here
http://www.britishairways.com/travel/septwoffers/public/en_gb?source=woffers_sept06_overlay
4. Paul Watkinson
HolidayLocal has a Microsoft Virtual Earth Mash Up doing the same thing with no need to download anything.
Try www.holidayloca.com
5. Dr Hugh de Glanville
Seeing this article and reading somwhere recently that Google Earth coverage was now wide, I downloaded the latest version and sought again for a few sites on which I wished to snoop but which a few months ago were all blurry green areas, i.e. not mapped in detail. I found little change and I believe large areas of the UK and the US are not yet fully mapped. Has BA paid Google quickly to cover in detail the tourist spots in which it is interested?