For more than a year now Google has been going off road with motorized tricycles and snowmobiles to capture imagery for Google Maps Street View. Today, Google released some nice Street View imagery of historic sites in Italy and France. Now you can look inside the Colosseum in Rome, get an up-close look at the Palace of Venaria, or explore a châteaux in the French countryside. Explore the new imagery on your own in Google Maps or take a look at the Google Maps highlights gallery.

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Applications for Education
Google Street View imagery gives students the opportunity to see places in a way that a flat 2D image in a textbook can’t provide. While we’re on the topic of Italy, if you would like to explore some ways that teachers are using Google Earth to teach lessons on Rome, check out these award-winning lessons.