Google Earth

Google Earth is a free application that allows users to fly from space to your neighborhood, search for schools, restaurants, parks and hotels, get driving directions, and much more.

Being designed by the powerful Google company, the Google Earth application puts a planet's worth of imagery and other geographic information right on your desktop.

Among its features, we can mention the ability to explore the world from anywhere, view 3D models of spacecraft and zoom into 360-degree photos from past space missions, explore cities, structures and buildings in 3D, view NASA images, and zoom into distant galaxies.

Google Earth is a platform-independent application that supports Linux, Windows and Mac OS X operating systems. It runs on both 32-bit and 64-bit architectures.

What is new in this release:

• The "Enable Controller" option in user preferences is now turned off by default. This prevents red directional arrows from displaying as a result of uncalibrated joysticks and other controllers being connected to Earth at startup.
• For enhanced security, "Use HTTPS for Google connections" is now toggled on by default.
• We fixed a bug whereby the cache size rose above user-specified limits.
• We fixed a crash resulting from searching on some Windows machines.
• We updated the LEAP API to version 1.08.
• We reduced LEAP controller sensitivity to user hand motions. This enables a smoother flight and greater control over your flight path when using a LEAP.

What is new in version 7.1.1 Build 1871:

• We have included another fix for the unified_cache_leveldb_leveldb2 directory filling beyond specified cache limits for some Windows and Macintosh users.
• Imagery no longer stays blurry upon zooming in when the cache is full.
• Certain NVIDIA cards, notably the GeForce 6600, 6800 and 7950, no longer suffer corrupted text or navigation controls in DirectX mode.
• Font and tilt settings now stick between sessions.
• Balloon opens now display when recording tours.
• We have included UI improvements to Flight Simulator.
• When printing, the scale legend now displays correct distances.
• Collada models now display with uncorrupted textures.
• Polygons and image overlays now display correctly across the Antimeridian.
• We fixed an issue with certain GPU - driver combinations whereby no imagery displayed in the client.
• The time slider in Sun and Historical Imagery features now displays the correct Daylight Savings time.
• Performance and stability improvements.
• [Pro] Artifact .avi files are no longer created when rendering movies from tours on Windows. [Pro] Calculating a Viewshed in parts of the southern hemisphere no longer displays an error.
• [Pro] The scale legend in the print flow no longer disappears when view is tilted, nor does it change between high-, medium- and low-quality prints

What is new in version 7.0.3 Build 8542:

• Google Earth Client:
• We have put in a fix for the unified_cache_leveldb_leveldb2 directory filling beyond specified cache limits for some Windows users.
• We now handle SSL certificate revocation errors appropriately.
• Lighting of Diorama buildings in OGL now appears correctly.
• Balloons no longer flicker while playing tours.
• We have improved the appearance of image and polygon overlays for users running some families of Radeon GPUs.
• We have included stability improvements for users running GeForce 6xxx and 7xxx cards.
• We have included stability improvements for users running Earth for extended periods of time.
• Imagery now displays for Linux users running specific families of Intel GPUs.
• Google Earth Plugin:
• Placemark and linestring quality no longer diminishes in the Plugin with browser refresh.

What is new in version 5.0 Beta:

• Historical Imagery: Until today, Google Earth displayed only one image of a given place at a given time. With this new feature, you can now move back and forth in time to reveal imagery from years and even decades past, revealing changes over time. Try flying south of San Francisco in Google Earth and turning on the new time slider (click the "clock" icon in the toolbar) to witness the transformation of Silicon Valley from a farming community to the tech capital of the world over the past 50 years or so.
• Touring: One of the key challenges we have faced in developing Google Earth has been making it easier for people to tell stories. People have created wonderful layers to share with the world, but they have often asked for a way to guide others through them. The Touring feature makes it simple to create an easily sharable, narrated, fly-through tour just by clicking the record button and navigating through your tour destinations.
• 3D Mars: This is the latest stop in our virtual tour of the galaxies, made possible by a collaboration with NASA. By selecting "Mars" from the toolbar in Google Earth, you can access a 3D map of the Red Planet featuring the latest high-resolution imagery, 3D terrain, and annotations showing landing sites and lots of other interesting features.