ED

Features of Google Earth

These days, online search is synonymous to “Google”. Peers tell each other “to Google” a term or topic when they mean to search it online. Google has definitely played an important role in the life of every human being who is related to internet in some way. There are many other services provided by Google which have made researches and study even easier like Google Books, Google News, Google Scholar, Google Maps and Google Earth. The latter has gained great deal of importance in past few years as it is one-of-its-kind service. People all around the sphere gain help from this service of Google. Apart from information and study purposes, it is also used as entertainment tool e.g. locating your home on the globe, finding out the location of your high school, searching for the international landmarks like Great Wall of China or Pyramids etc.

In this article, I will discuss the usage of Google Earth, along with the detailed history and background of this grand service.

What is Google Earth?

This is a virtual world map that displays geographical information of the globe. You can locate your house and see the place in map form, terrain form, satellite or hybrid.

History of Google Earth:

We cannot give the whole credit of Google Earth to Google, as it was created by another company. This program was originally named EarthViewer 3D which was fashioned by a company called Keyhole, Inc. As EarthViewer 3D, it was released back in 2001. In 2004, the big daddy Google acquired Keyhole Inc. and obviously, the EarthViewer came under Google’s control. In 2005, this product was released once again, but with a new name; Google Earth. This is available for those systems that run on MS Windows 2100 and above, Mac OS X 10.3.9 and above, Linux Kernel 2.4 and later and FreeBSD. As far as using Google Earth on mobile phones is concerned, it is available as free download both for iPhone OS and Android OS form their respective App Markets.

Overview of the Program:

Google Earth allows users to see images of the earth taken via satellites. These satellite images are of varying resolution; varying according to the significance and popularity of areas. Most of the times, land is covered in minimum 15m of resolution, but at popular places like Las Vegas, Melbourne and Cambridge, we find the highest resolution at fifteen cm. Basically, one will only get 2D image for most parts of the world. It is nothing like seeing something in front of you (or 3D), rather it is something like a huge snapshot of cities and colonies. There are but only few places on the earth that can be seen in 3D mode. These are the places which are considered more like the greatest landmarks like Grand Canyon and Mount Everest. With the help of NASA’s Shuttle Radar Topography Mission (SRTM) and collected digital elevation model (DEM) data, Google Earth offers these 3 dimensional images. Though the service was unable to render 3D images of places, but now there are certain places of which 3D images can be viewed. Now, we have Street View option as well as exploring moon is also possible with new version of Google Earth. Google Earth is available in 37 languages, with two version of English and Chinese each.

Features of Google Earth:

Now, let us discuss the nice features of Google Earth.

1. Wikipedia and Panoramio

Back in 2006 December, Google added a new layer to the Google Earth called “Geographical Web”. This included integration with Wikipedia and Panoramio. In 2007, Google acquired Panoramio and in 2010 the Geographic Web Layer was removed. Now, Panoramio layer sits in between the main layers and Wikipedia layer is lying in the “More” layer.

2. Flight simulator

There is a flight simulator feature in the Google Earth where the aircrafts can be controlled via keyboard, mouse or joystick. In the beginning, this was a hidden feature, but now it is not. The featured airplanes include F-16 Fighting Falcon and Cirrus R-22.

3. Google sky

It was introduced in 2007. As the name suggests, this feature enables users to view bodies and stars in the space. Though it offers great experience, Google Sky has tough competitions in form of Microsoft WorldWide Telescope and Stellarium.

4. Google Street View

In year 2008, the Street View was fully and completely integrated into Google Earth. In this mode, viewers are able to view some selected parts of few chosen cities at ground level. A 360 degree panoramic street level image is provided. It began with 5 cities, and now it has expanded to a great number of cities worldwide. The street view shows such photographs that have been taken before via an automobile. While in the Street View mode, these photos can be seen in a variety of sizes and from different angles and directions.

5. Ocean

This feature was added in the Google Earth in 2009. It offers views of oceans and underwater 3D imagery. Information from great oceanographers and scientists is included in this mode.

6. Historical Imagery

This feature allows the users to know about historical development and background of a certain place. If you are a student and working on an assignment regarding historical background of a certain place, this feature of Google Earth is bound to aid you big time.

7. Google Moon

As the name suggests, this feature displays images of our beloved moon. Google introduced Google Moon as a feature of Google Moon in 2009, on 40th anniversary of Apollo 11 mission.

8. Google Mars

This feature displays images of planet Mars as well as 3D topographical exposé. Though good for entertainment purposes, this feature can be best used for research purposes and studies.

Things change and technology keeps on developing. It is an ever growing thing, thus these features do not complete Google Earth. The service will keep on growing and we hope to see new and more exciting features and layers in the upcoming

Tags: Earth, geographical information, Google, images, Technology