Google announced today that it has updated Google Earth for desktop with 100,000 new tours and a million photos from Panoramio, a geolocation-oriented photo share site that Google acquired in 2007.

“As you navigate in Earth, tour guide acts as a local exploration expert, suggesting interesting places near the location you’re visiting,” Google said in a Google+ post announcing the update.

Google last added significant amounts of new imagery to Google Earth in October last year, unveiling 3D imagery for 21 global cities. At the time, Google said it had 11,000 tours, such as the one below of  Rome. The tours are not all terrestrial; you can also explore Mars, the Moon, or a variety of Hubble Space Telescope images.

100,000 new tours means that Google has created 89,000 in less than three months — a fairly staggering feat. The tours include fly-overs, Wikipedia snippets, and the photos sourced from Panoramio. Panoramio focuses exclusively on natural photos of the planet, excluding photos of people or vehicles, but allowing city scapes.

No software update is required to view the new content.

Image credit: Google

The company has also introduced a concierge service where users can request customized tours and assistance with trip planning. Furthermore, it now enables global payments in more than 35 currencies. As a result of these new features, Vayable has experienced rapid grown, and revenue is doubling month over month. The team also revealed that it is currently participating in Y Combinator.

The traction is partly attributable to execution. With an accessible user interface and an emphasis on visuals, the site is pleasant to peruse, and the vetted database of experiences is comprehensive enough to suit every inclination. However, the success also stems from addressing a significant pain point within the traveler community: the desire for meaningful experiences.

“People seek out authenticity of experience when traveling,” said founder Jamie Wong. “But that authenticity is not just about experiencing the local culture. It is also about the authenticity of your own experiences. You can immerse yourself in an environment the same way thousands of other people do, or you can enjoy something that is true to both yourself and the place.”

Vayable’s emphasis on connecting travelers with local people and facilitating specialized opportunities is what distinguishes it from traditional tour companies. While serving as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Thailand, I interacted with countless backpackers who came to Asia with the hope of being exposed to something new but struggled to find unique experiences. Everyone references the same guidebooks, and “off-the-beaten-path” excursions have become as mainstream as bus tour trips.

Vayable was inspired by Wong’s own travel experiences. She was studying abroad in Madrid and decided to spend her spring break in Morocco instead of an expensive trip to Greece with her friends. She struck up an unlikely connection with a local store owner who overheard Wong and her travel partner debating whether to pay $1,000 for a camel trip in the Sahara Desert. For $250, he offered to drive them to the Atlas Mountains and connect them with his brother who would take them on a camel trek. They spent a week living as part of a nomadic caravan and afterwards had an incredible story to tell.

“It wasn’t just about doing the touristy thing but involved meeting a local family and giving them money to help sustain their culture and their livelihood in a very direct way,” said Wong. “I love the idea of going out and stepping into people’s stories and telling my own. Vayable is about giving people stories.”

The small but dedicated team at Vayable has pounded the pavement (literally and metaphorically) to find as many local tour guides as possible. Guides come from all walks of life and not only provide entertainment and expertise but, more importantly, a view beyond the bright facade of highly touristed spots.

“Experiences are really about a human connection,” said Wong. “They are not a commodity. It is not something you can find through a pre-packaged tour, a travel agent, or a guidebook.”

If you feel like going on a fishing trip with the King of Fiji, indulging in a lavish dinner with an Italian winemaker, or renting Alcatraz for a night, check out Vayable’s marketplace. Tours range in price and duration, but the memories will extend far beyond that.

Gidsy makes it easy for you to offer a tour or other experience in New York, where the service launches today. You could call it the Etsy of experiences.

Gidsy started in Berlin, where the founders were running a design studio. “We were looking for someone to go mushroom picking in Berlin because we wanted to make a mushroom risotto and we couldn’t find anyone who could help us with that,” says co-founder Edial Dekker. “That’s when we came up with the idea of Gidsy. How great would it be if anyone could organize a robotics workshop, city walk or cooking class?”

Gidsy places great emphasis on naming the individual organizing the experience, although these organizers may sometimes be running small businesses. “Individuals run the Gidsy marketplace, so Gidsy activities end up being very much about the hosts’ personalities and quirks,” Dekker says. “The experiences are better because they’re expressions of an individual’s personality and passion. Instead of attending a yoga class at a gym, for example, you’ll find an expert on Gidsy offering candle-lit yoga classes on a rooftop.”

It’s free to create an experience listing. Gidsy takes care of money transaction fees, customer support, cancellations, refunds and marketing in return for a 10 percent service charge. If a cancellation occurs more than one week before an experience, organizers keep 50 percent of the charge; if it’s less than two days, then the organizer is paid in full. To protect users, organizers do not receive payments (via Paypal) until at least 24 hours after the experience. The minimum charge for an experience is $5.

Gidsy is not alone in this space. 500 startups investment Vayable already operates in Berlin, New York and several other cities. It charges a 15 percent service fee while another rival Sidetour takes 20 percent. Gidsy’s founders claim that their service offers superior tools for organizers and social utilities for users. “We are very much focused on group bookings and connecting people, ” explains Dekker. “If you have booked the same activity, there’s a high chance these people have something in common. We try to spark that conversation.”

The Dekker brothers (Edial’s brother Floris is also a co-founder) are imports to startup hotspot Berlin, hailing originally from Amsterdam. “It’s been said before, but the city of Berlin feels very much like a startup,” Dekker told me. “It’s changing all the time, it’s chaotic, exciting and disruptive. Add a bunch of amazing startups such as Soundcloud, Amen, Readmill and 6wunderkinder to that and you have the most exciting startup city in Europe.”

Gidsy was founded in 2011, has 6 employees and is privately funded.