People can now watch Youtube videos about the places they visit in Google Earth.

From today, a Youtube video layer will launch as a Featured Content folder in the application.

The Google Earth blog explains how this opens up this virtual atlas by a new layer placing Youtube videos in their geographical context; virtual travelers can zoom in on regions of the globe and view the Youtube videos that are about that location. For example, someone could view Hawaii, and see clips of people surfing, or zoom in on Paris, and watch videos of the Eiffel Tower at night.

This layer offers an additional graphical interface to Google Earth; for example, previously, virtual visitors to Rome could view the Colosseum as a 3D building created with SketchUp, and in user-contributed photos uploaded to Panoramio.

Now they can watch Youtube videos filmed on and near the Colosseum and experience it through the eyes of the Youtube users who have been there.

Michael Jones, the chief technologist for Google Earth, said: "Our vision here is all about the sense of place. Photos show the local view, but videos add the sense of life. The combination of Earth's 'where' with Youtube's 'what' makes the combined experience that much more complete and compelling."