Google Earth Plus

Google Earth Plus

Google Earth Plus costs $20 a year and offers several upgrades, including a 1400-pixel printing resolution (free Google Earth has a 1000-pixel printing resolution), the ability to import data from a GPS device and real-time GPS tracking. Google Earth Pro costs $400 a year and offers a 4800-pixel print resolution, GPS and spreadsheet support, area measurements and various add-on applications including movie-making and traffic-data modules. For more information, see The Google Earth Product Family.

Most of us have been using one online mapping program or another for years now. They're a godsend for those of us who get lost within a 3-mile radius of our homes, and they're just plain fun for people who enjoy figuring out where stuff is.

With this in mind, imagine how amazing Google Earth must be for it to elicit awe from the online community and cause South Korea to demand changes to the program.

Google Earth is no ordinary mapping application. Type "Denver, CO" into the Google Earth search box, and yes, you can learn where Denver, Colo. is in relation to Grand Junction, Colo. and how to get from your address to 1600 Curtis St. in downtown Denver. In the same search, though, you can also learn that 1600 Curtis St. is in the 80202 zip code and that there are 12 Starbucks Coffee shops within a half-mile radius of that address; you can zoom out from 1600 Curtis St. and watch it disappear into a satellite view of the Earth and then zoom back in as if you were falling onto 1600 Curtis St. from space; and if you click on "Forbidden City" in the "Sightseeing" column, you can see what it would look like to fly Superman-style from 1600 Curtis St. in Denver to the Forbidden Palace in Beijing, China. 

Google Earth is currently available for download as a desktop application, although you need to be connected to the Internet to use it. Every time you open Google Earth, it automatically connects to Google's servers, giving you access to terabytes of geographical, political and social data. For instance, you can view a city with certain "layers" turned on, including topographical information, population data and crime statistics for the area. The layers and all of the map navigation buttons, including zoom, tilt and rotate, are all located in the Google Earth frame.

The big deal right now is the basic version of Google Earth is completely free. Of course, this could change in the future. So let's all start by downloading the free version of the software located at Earth.Google.com while it's still free. If your computer runs Windows, Linux or Mac OS X 10.3.9 or higher, and it's fewer than five years old, you should have no problem meeting the system requirements. If your computer can't run the application, read on to find out what you'll be able to do once you update your equipment. 

Once you open Google Earth and start moving around a bit, you'll immediately notice one of the biggest "whoa" aspects of the program: some of the information is 3-D, and the stuff that isn't 3-D is still a photograph -- there are no illustrated maps here. The baseline visual data comes from satellite imagery and aerial photographs taken by aircraft.

While Google Earth comprises an array of features that would probably take months to fully utilize, the basic features fit loosely into the following categories:

• Mapping/directions
• Local search
• Sightseeing 

The basic version of Google Earth is free, and it's an amazing piece of software. But in case you want more, or you intend to use the program for commercial applications, there are subscription-based versions of Google Earth that offer additional functions. Read on for a closer look at the basics. ­