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Google Earth Launching For Free

Posted by Zonk on from the yay-free-planet dept.

Nathan Weinberg writes "Google launches Keyhole 3 today, rebranded Google Earth, and are dumping the subscription rate (except for a $20/year "plus" versions with prettier pictures) available soon at earth.google.com. The program lets you fly around a 3D globe, with overhead satellite photos, tilted 45-degree photos, 3D rendered buildings, and overlays that display everything from roads to hotels to bike routes. I have a lot of info and screenshots at InsideGoogle, and Search Engine Watch has a big writeup. With yesterday's Google Video release, this is shaping up to be a major week for the search giant."

5 of 405 comments (clear)

  1. Linux by bcmm · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Anyone tested this in Wine (or something with better 3D support like Cedega) yet? Any luck?

    --
    # cat /dev/mem | strings | grep -i llama
    Damn, my RAM is full of llamas.
  2. Yeah... by Svartalf · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Google, you're all about Linux- why can't ya come up with a Linux (and a MacOS X) version, hm?

    --
    I am not merely a "consumer" or a "taxpayer". I am a Citizen of the State of Texas
  3. No Mac support? by illtron · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Aw man, c'mon Google!

    --
    Slashdot: 24 hours behind every other site or your money back!
  4. Re:Better by samtihen · · Score: 3, Interesting

    I agree about the streaming. It doesn't seem right to me that Keyhole, now Google Earth, loads more slowly than Google Maps. They clearly use the same map data in almost all cases. And in some cases, I even like the Google Maps interface better. For instance, the 'double-click to center' seems easier than the Google Earth 'double-click to center and zoom'.

    However, Google Earth does have some serious advantages in altitude sensitive data. I like being able to see what elevation my mouse curser is at, for instance.

    Additionally, Google Earth has the much needed city and road data for the rest of the world, which I would like to see incorporated into Google Maps as well.

  5. Re:Better by stg · · Score: 3, Interesting


    I'm playing with Google Earth now. I'm currently on dial-up, and it's still usable, as long as you are very patient :-) .

    It does have quite a few labels in Brazil, and it has a neat feature with user-added places in the BBS (looks like they decided to go retro instead of just calling a forum). There are already a few in Brazil.

    Should be very neat, as long as people don't start spamming it!

    BTW, I've used the trial of Keyhole LT, and Google's free version seem much nicer... A year ago, their trial didn't have *anything* on Brazil, too - not even Landsat-7's 15 meter images, just the default NASA Visible World images.

    WorldWind is likely to take a big hit in popularity - the tiny download of Google Earth (10mb vs WW 200mb) is likely to be a major factor to some... Google's servers can also run circles around NASAs.

    Too bad for the custom apps - WW being open source gave it a huge advantage there...