As a result of collaboration with geonames.org we proudly unleash the first 2 new map extensions: Placenames and Earthquakes.
Both extensions are part of the default geoLink (999) , you can toggle them (FireFox only) with Alt-p for placenames or Alt-q for earthquakes. 
Placenames are much faster loaded from geonames than maps and help you to stay oriented while zooming into your place of interest.
They are displayed in your choosen language and link to city’s Wikipedia page when ever possible.
The extensions use latest Web 2.0 technologies as AJAX and JSON to deliver instant update within milliseconds.
Inter domain data exchange format is JSON, while EOP uses XML to transport additional meta service data between PHP Connector and Javascript’s XMLHttpRequest.
The geonames.org database contains 2 million toponyms of populated places. Up to twenty are shown sorted by population with priority on capitals.
A sophisticated algorithm prevents overlapping of placenames, so the screen is not cluttered up with unreadable citynames.
Overlapping of earthquakes is wanted to have them all visible. The data is obtained from USGS Earthquake Center and gets refreshed periodically and is near realtime.
Picture shows Turino where the Olympics started yesterday together with Placenames and the pan sharpened Global Mosaic from NASA Onearth Server.
Click here to check it out, go fullscreen with F11 and do the wheelzoom.
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