Google Hollow Earth

There are other worlds, but they're all in the mind of D&D nerds and they're full of sissy elves.

(Paul Eluard)

Sometimes, when I wallow in my abject nerdom and my already tenuous link with reality gets streched even further, I ponder that versions of Google Earth for imaginary worlds would be mightly cool, and useful to boot. For example, Google Tschai would be an invaluable tool for planning your incursions into the Carabas in search of sequins. And in some cases, the very fate of the world depends on a properly planned quest. One does not simply walk into Mordor, but consults Google Middle Earth first (Galadriel's mirror has a really cool interface, by the way, even if the search results are a bit erratic).

However, such projects would be fraught with technical difficulties. Our world is pretty simple: emerged bidimensional surfaces (save for some slight bump here and there, like the Himalayas) which are easily observed by the prying eyes of satellites. Fantasy worlds are more complicated. What about underground kingdoms, like the Underdark or Foreverness? Satellites won't be of much use in those cases; we would need something like Barrington Bailey's "antronoscope":

A more detailed exercise in alternative cosmology is found in "Me and My Antronoscope'' (1973), which is set in a rigid universe where life exists in bubblelike lacunae. A rebellious individual in one such lacuna challenges the reigning orthodoxy with his notion that the continuum contains other worlds, and sets off defiantly in his solidity ship in order to search for them. After a long journey he breaks through into a new cavity, and, though it is empty and lifeless, he feels that its existence vindicates his theory. He perishes, convinced that he has been the pioneer who will lead his race to the conquest of the universe. This little drama is perceived by the inhabitants of another world by means of an antronoscope, and their activities form a frame narrative offering the merest glimpse of the other wonders of the infinite universe which this marvelous device exposes to their eyes.

(Brian Stableford's review of Barrington J. Bayley's The Knights of the Limits)

And let's not forget underwater kingdoms, and cloud kingdoms. The latter ones may change position -or even form, or dissolve- in a matter of days according to the prevailing winds. The map may quickly become obsolete unless it is frequently updated.

From the shelf Gersen took down an untidy portfolio, containing ballads, odes, dithyrambs: A Growl for Gruel, The Juices I Have Tramped, I Am a Darting Minstrel, They Pass!, Drusilla's Dream, Castles in the Clouds and the Anxieties of Those Who Live Directly Below by Reason of Falling Objects and Wastes.

(Jack Vance: The Palace of Love)

Besides the difficulties with data acquisition, the layer functionality of Google Earth would have to be greatly extended to allow switching between all those superimposed realms. And I'm not even going to discuss the possibility of alternate versions of the same world in parallel dimensions, or lovecraftian Dreamlands. No doubt those at Google were aware of all the hurdles I mentioned. That's why they decided to tackle the simplest case -the real world- first.

One last thing: what type of map projection is the one best suited to hollow earths, in particular those hollow earths open at the poles, in which the external and internal surfaces communicate? And for worlds in the shape of mobious strips, or klein bottles? These are pressing questions, in my opinion.

In general, the concept of GIS for fantasy worlds offers untapped, if challenging, possibilities.

Edit: How naive of me. Apparently, Google Middle Earth already exists.