Google has added Nano Banana to Google Earth for some reason

Have you ever explored around Google Earth and thought to yourself, "I wish there were some generative AI features in here?" No? Well, you're getting it anyway.

Google announced that it's integrating Nano Banana, the company's generative AI image creator, directly into Google Earth.

To be more specific, Google has added its latest AI image generation model, Nano Banana 2, to its mapping platform and has rolled out a number of ways that users can utilize AI in Google Earth as well. Nano Banana has proven to be very popular, and Google previously integrated the tool with Chrome, Photos, Search, Gemini Notebook (previously Notebook LM), and Google Messages.

According to Google, Nano Banana in Google Earth can be used for a variety of purposes. Users can ask Nano Banana to:

• Generate infographics based on specific locations or landmarks

• View what a location looked like during a certain historical period

• Generate real estate plans for a lot of land

• Visualize a project before any construction starts

• Give a location or even a specific building a makeover

However, our friends at ZDNet received early access to the feature before it launched today and found that the Nano Banana implementation in Google Earth isn't really all that useful. At least not yet.

For example, according to ZDNet, the Create Image button, which deploys Nano Banana in the Google Earth toolbar, isn't provided when in Street View. ZDNet found it was easier to just take a Street View screenshot and paste the image into Gemini for AI image generation.

Furthermore, one of Google's own recommended use cases, "Bring history to life," doesn't appear to be historically accurate. ZDNet had Nano Banana generate the area around Philadelphia's Independence Hall in different time periods. While Nano Banana generated an image with the general look and feel of the time, it didn't seem to pull from any data that would show which buildings were actually around Independence Hall at the time.

The Infographic suggested use case also didn't pan out in ZDNet's tests, either. Generated infographics changed the actual layout of a location in the image and included nonsensical, garbled AI text as well.

The real estate industry has been a fairly big adopter of generative AI imagery, as they can show prospective buyers visualizations of what can be done with a home or plot of land. Google clearly had this in mind for at least some of its suggested use cases. However, Nano Banana in Google Earth seems very much like an early experimental feature at this point.

(Disclosure: Mashable and ZDNet are both owned by the same parent company, Ziff Davis.)