Review: Google Earth

Overview Google Maps is quite amazing, however lacks the quality overhead images of its worldly sidekick Google Earth. I love launching Google Earth on my computer and traveling the world in a few short keystrokes. I can say I've visited remote areas of Spain, Greece, Africa, even the North and South Poles. All this traveling without ever leaving the comfort of my chair. Imagine my excitement when I heard that Google had released its Earth application in the iPhone App Store this week. Now I can partake in all new adventures without even leaving the couch, or car, or even while on my lunch break at work.

Functionality Google Earth for the iPhone delivers the same high quality images as its PC/Mac counterpart, however it lacks the ability to tack on overlays (such as Landmarks, Streets, etc.). This doesn't take much away from its appeal though. Once launching the application you are presented with a full view of the globe. From here you can use your fingers to spin, turn, and zoom into your destination. On the top left is a button to show a search box for typing in an address, city, country, or landmark. On the top right a compass that will always snap the current image so that north is pointing up. The bottom left is the familiar 'Current Location' button that you find in Google Maps to automatically zoom into where you are currently standing. On the bottom right is an 'i' which will take you to an Information and Options screen.

Searching is intuitive, and accurate (as you would expect from the search engine leader). Living near Los Angeles I thought today we would take a trip to the Staples Center where the Laker's play basketball.

I'm given the option to just tap 'Search' and look for all matches of "Staples Center", or I can choose to 'Search for "Staples center" near me' which will use the GPS to give you the closest matches to your query. I chose to just search near me, since I know I'm within 50 miles of the location. After telling the iPhone it's alright for Google Earth to use my current location I was given a list of closest matches to my search.

In a familiar zooming, spinning, dizzying motion the image is panned in directly to the roof of the complex. Tilting the phone up or down, left or right will pan that direction respectively. (this feature can be disabled in the options, as I find it rather annoying when you're trying to look at one image).

Many areas have little blue 'Photo' icons which when tapped will show a photo relevant to the current location. In the case of the Staples center we can see a view of the front entrance, and from inside the complex.

There are also little 'W' icons that represent Wikipedia entries for the current location. In the screenshots below I visited Melbourne Australia, and saw pictures of the Royal Botanic Gardens, and read up on the Wiki entry for Wesley College in Melbourne.

Review

Google Earth brings the high resolution overhead pictures that you get on the PC/Mac version right to your phone. Like many other image manipulation, and display applications, having low memory on the phone can cause frequent crashes. I had Earth crash on me a few times while doing this review, however after a good reboot of the phone it was stable and smooth. This app like it's PC/Mac counterpart will have you roaming the earth for hours, discovering new places each time you launch.

Summary

Despite lacking the ability to drop overlays on the images, Google has yet again outdone itself in porting Earth to the phone. With a price tag of $0.00 and the potential to offer hours of learning, fun, and discovery, you really can't go wrong by downloading Earth. It has earned its spot on my Springboard and is arguably one of my favorite apps to date. Go ahead, give it a try, tell us what you think!

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