Google Earth featured content, which launched last week, allows you to explore localities in a very compelling way. If you zoom in on the Great Pyramid of Egypt, for example, a screen pops up with information from Discovery Networks. There are also Turn Here videos, an Emeryville-based startup that plans to produce 25,000 short videos this year about neighborhoods and local attractions, so you can check out restaurants and other places before visiting. This is a great new platform for local businesses to relatively inexpensively advertise, and also an interesting educational tool.

The featured content in Google Earth has interesting potential implications for Google search results of the future. For example, if you search for “New York,” the search results could be segmented in such a way that you can easily explore the City via Google Earth, watch relevant videos, listen to local music, as well as discover traditional information-based and keyword relevant websites.