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Google Earth, the popular globe rendering software that was downloaded over 400 million times since its release in June 2005, just got a new and very exciting feature: the Google Earth team announced earlier today that when looking at Rome, Italy it is now possible to see a number of historic places as archaeologist thought they looked like thousands of years ago.

The new feature can now be tested when looking at satellite images of Rome, Italy: based on the work of architects, archaeologists and artists, the team has managed to render an impressively accurate reconstruction of the way the capital of the Roman Empire used to look in AD 320. The model contains a total of over 6,700 buildings and 250 place marks pointing to key sites and explanations for each building’s function in a variety of languages and represents a truly impressive effort that should now make it a little easier for experts and students to dive into this ancient world.

The 3D models are based on a physical model of the city called the “Plastico di Roma Antica”, which was created by archaeologists and model-makers between 1933 to 1974 and housed in a special gallery in Rome’s Museum of Roman Civilisation.

Posting on Google’s blog to give the news was Gianni Alemanno, the current Mayor of Rome, during the unveiling event in the Italian capital. The major underlined the educational significance of the project while acknowledging the “Rome Reborn” project of the University of Virginia:

“Ancient Rome 3D is a great opportunity to rediscover the importance of Ancient Roman culture, which is at the base of the Italian, European and, more generally, Western identities. The archaeological heritage and the artistic monuments of the Roman Empire have found their way to many continents, but it is in the capital city (known in Roman times as Caput Mundi, which is Latin for “Capital of the World”) that we can still find most of it.”

What is even more interesting, some of the buildings rendered through the application can also be seen from the inside in very high detail. Buildings have been divided into different classes based on the historic importance that each had in the life of ancient Roman citizens: the Colosseum and another approx. 200 structures are part of “Class 1″ and are said by Google Earth developers to have been rendered as faithfully as possible.

To activate the layer, users simply need to open the “Gallery” folder in the “Layers” panel and select “Ancient Rome 3D”. While the three-dimensional layer was not available when the feature was launched, it was added just a few hours later and it can now be used without problems.

Bruce Polderman, Google Earth product manager, talked about the task of rendering an ancient city presented several obstacles, saying the most notable of which was the different — and hard to reconstruct — terrain morphology: “We needed to ensure that modern day imagery, terrain and buildings didn’t interfere with the ancient Rome model, so we opted for a simple overlay“.

“Whether you are a student taking your first ancient history class, a historian who spends your life researching ancient civilisations, or just a history buff, access to this 3D model in Google Earth will help everyone learn more about ancient Rome“, Polderman added in a statement.

In fact, the new layer also serves as the inspiration for the “Google Ancient Rome 3D Curriculum Competition“, a contest aimed at K-12 teachers working in the US awarding those who can make best use of Google’s educational tools for their teaching with prizes such as Apple MacBook laptops, projectors, cameras and gift cards, as well as a commemorative plaque. The entries can be collaborative and must be submitted through an online form: the complete contest rules are available here.