Google Earth

Google Earth is a powerful and innovative software technology that combines satellite imagery, maps and Google Search to make it possible for anyone to explore the planet in amazing detail. It allows the user to fly from one locale to another and zoom in for increasingly fine detail and access map overlays to find anything from a hotel or school to weather and traffic details. You can explore and save your toured content, add your own annotations and share it with others.

With Google Earth you can zoom into anywhere on the planet you wish to explore, even your own neighborhood. By typing in an address, you can instantly access the view. It allows for tilting and rotating the view for a 3D image of buildings and terrain. Being fully integrated with Google Maps, you can even get driving directions.

Google Earth maps the planet by superimposing images acquired from satellite imagery and aerial photography. It is available as Google Earth, a free version, and Google Earth Pro at a cost of $400/year with additional features for commercial use. The free version is available for use with Windows, Mac OSX and Linux. In October 2008, it was made available for use on the iPhone.

More recently, a feature was added that allows for monitoring traffic speeds in real-time. With the integration of Google Street View in April 2008, it can offer a street level view in a number of locations. In January 2009,  the ocean floor of Google Earth was updated with new images from NOAA, SIO, the US Navy and others.

Google Earth has not avoided criticism. It has evoked concern from national officials and special interest groups as constituting an invasion of privacy and a possible threat to national security. It is argued that Google Earth provides detailed information about critical installations such as military and nuclear facilities that could be used by terrorists. This gained some traction when the lone surviving gunman of the 2008 Mumbai attacks admitted that he used  Google Earth to gain familiarity with the locations of buildings involved in the attacks.

Categories: Glossary
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