One World Many Stories

On the occasion of one billion downloads (October 2011) of Google Earth, Google created a website "One World Many Stories" in which it showcased stories from people worldwide about how they had used Google Earth "..... to follow their dreams, discover new and distant places, or make the world a better place".

One of the stories included in this post by Google was about me, my blog, and my interest in Google Earth. This story is no longer available, but it can be read in the archives available at Wayback Machine, a digital archive of the World Wide Web, and the same
 is being reproduced below to preserve it for posterity.
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Travelogue of an armchair traveler


Jamal Masood, who goes by the name of CuriousJM in the Google Earth Community, first started using Google Earth to check out his own house, along with those of his relatives and friends. Pretty soon he was hooked on the virtual globe tool.

Being retired with plenty of free time, he started placemarking various locations in his region. "Gradually I expanded my region," the armchair traveler says, "and now I treat the world as a global village."

Eventually, Jamal launched a blog to share his more unusual discoveries on his virtual explorations, aiming to bring to light lesser known but beautiful, unique or bizarre places around the world.

For example, thanks to the work of CuriousJM, you can see huge, colorful streamers on the hills of Tibet. His wanderings via Google Street View revealed the incredible statues of penitents of Taxco, Mexico and the unusual crocodile-shaped hotel in Australia. Fans of the bizarre will love his research into the Temple of Rats at the Karni Mata Temple in India. He’s also curated several fascinating collections, such as Amazingly Balanced Rocks Around the World, Birthplaces of Digital Giants, Equatorial Monuments Around the World, and The Horses of Leonardo da Vinci.

Among hundreds of other virtual discoveries, Jamal has blogged about this unique crocodile shaped hotel in Australia.

"As you can see in my posts I have traveled wide and far without leaving the comfort of my chair." – Jamal Masood, aka CuriousJM

"Google Earth, the Google Earth Community, and my blogs keep me mentally alert," says the 71-year-old adventurer. "Many persons of my age go into depression because they have no goal or hobby. They just don't know how to spend their time." Jamal’s problem is the opposite – he hardly has enough minutes in the day to reach all the destinations he wants, claiming "Google Earthritis is incurable!" He's even started a second blog, Roaming the Google Streets, where he reports on interesting finds in Google Street View.

Did you know that you can discover Google Earth content through the people who create it? Join CuriousJM in the Google Earth Community, where you can browse explorable discussion categories filled with amazing Earth content. Millions of users join the Google Earth Community to search, comment on, and share rich KML content, right in Google Earth. Start today by logging on to Google Earth and selecting "Help > Google Earth Community" or simply by right clicking a placemark or folder and selecting "Share/Post."

Check out Jamal's numerous collections in the Google Earth Community, including the Vertical Green Garden in Madrid.

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Note:
The official Google Earth Community has been closed by Google and is no longer available. It has also not been archived by Wayback Machine, however the posts mentioned in above story can be seen in my blog;
Although official Google Earth Community (GEC) has been closed but its successor version, created by Admins, Moderators, staff of the erstwhile GEC and the creators of Google Earth, is available as "Google Earth Community Forums" and it continues show case stories from around the World.

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