# Wikipedia Links on Google Earth

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wikipedia-links-on-google-earth/531259>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [March 4, 2010, 8:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wikipedia-links-on-google-earth/531259 "2010-03-04T08:38:18Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 5\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![grimpixie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/ecb155/32.png) [@grimpixie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/grimpixie)\
**Post date:** [March 4, 2010, 8:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wikipedia-links-on-google-earth/531259/1 "2010-03-04T08:38:18Z")

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Browsing round Google Earth, I have noticed that a number of institutions have a Wikipedia icon associated with their location which, when clicked on, opens up their entry on Wikipedia.

How do I get me one of those for my workplace?

Anyone know?  
Grim

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**Author:** ![grimpixie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/ecb155/32.png) [@grimpixie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/grimpixie)\
**Post date:** [March 4, 2010, 10:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wikipedia-links-on-google-earth/531259/2 "2010-03-04T10:04:57Z")

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Never mind - I found it, its a website called [Placeopedia](http://www.placeopedia.com/)

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**Author:** ![ctnguy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/6de8d8/32.png) [@ctnguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ctnguy)\
**Post date:** [March 4, 2010, 11:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wikipedia-links-on-google-earth/531259/3 "2010-03-04T11:41:22Z")

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I think the Wikipedia links in Google Earth are produced directly from Wikipedia articles that have the {{coord}} template in them. I don’t know if adding a place to Placeopedia will make it appear in the default GE Wikipedia layer.

Where do you work? I can add the {{coord}} template to the appropriate article if you like. (Or PM me if you don’t want to post it in public.)

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**Author:** ![grimpixie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/ecb155/32.png) [@grimpixie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/grimpixie)\
**Post date:** [March 4, 2010, 12:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wikipedia-links-on-google-earth/531259/4 "2010-03-04T12:38:30Z")

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I’ve put the coord coordinates into our Wikipedia article as well, that was my first thought, but after waiting a week or so, nothing had changed on GE, so I thought there must be something else to it and a bit of Googling found Placeopedia.

I’ll wait another week and we’ll see…

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**Author:** ![ctnguy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/6de8d8/32.png) [@ctnguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ctnguy)\
**Post date:** [March 4, 2010, 5:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wikipedia-links-on-google-earth/531259/5 "2010-03-04T17:46:50Z")

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> [@grimpixie](#):
>
> I’ve put the coord coordinates into our Wikipedia article as well, that was my first thought, but after waiting a week or so, nothing had changed on GE, so I thought there must be something else to it and a bit of Googling found Placeopedia.
> 
> I’ll wait another week and we’ll see…

I think Google periodically downloads the Wikipedia article dump, and updates the GE Wikipedia layer based on that. I’m not sure how often they do that; [this article](http://www.wikihow.com/Add-Wikipedia-Articles-to-Google-Earth) claims (without cite) that it “may take a month or two” which seems plausible to me.