It follows months of negotiations involving the Department of Local Government and the Space Commerce Division of the Treasury.

Google Earth is a facility provided by Google which shows the whole of the earth in photographic format, made up of imagery collected from satellites and aerial photography.

Until recently, imagery of the Island on Google Earth was of very poor quality and was based on old satellite imagery.

The new imagery is based on aerial photography taken during summer 2006 and is described as a great improvement.

Local Government and the Environment Minister John Shimmin said: 'I am delighted that all the hard work has paid off and that the Isle of Man is now on Google Earth at a quality that reflects the image we wish to show in other areas of our activities.'

Treasury Minister Allan Bell added: 'We are constantly looking for ways to improve the image and profile of the Island and undoubtedly, this latest development will assist in this process.'

http://earth.google.com/

WHAT DO YOU THINK?
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YOUR COMMENTS

Wow – Fantastic tool to use especially as we are residential estate agents!
IAN, Cowley Groves

I am not fortunate enough to reside on your beautiful Isle, so I truly appreciate the updates to Google Maps! Navigating the site brings back wonderful memories of my past visits and makes me long to return. Warmest Regards,
M. BREWER, Greeneville, TN USA

Looks great, shame though, various buildings are not on it that are about 6-12 Months old so the picture is about a year out of date already
PAUL

I have been using google maps on my virtualiom.com website for a couple of years now but the new high quality google maps have transformed the experience. http://www.virtualiom.com/map.php
ANDREW