Earlier this year, Google announced that Google Earth Pro was going to be available for download on all devices for free. Google Earth Pro previously used to retail for $399 per year. Google Earth pro is a geo-spatial software application that is used to display the world virtually with the ability to capture and analyze geographical data.
The Google Earth program started in 2004 through a former CIA funded company, Keyhole Inc. after Google acquired it. Before Google came into the picture, the application was called Earth Viewer 3D. By late 2011, October to be specific, the Google Earth Desktop client had hit the one billion downloads milestone. Google Earth Pro is now available for free on all smart devices.
There were several distinguishing differences between Google Earth Pro and the free version of Google Earth.
The most notable difference was that Google Earth Pro offered its users the option of printing high quality HD photos while the free version you could only print screen resolution.
Another exciting feature that Google earth Pro offers is the ability to automatically geo-locate geographical information system images (GIS images) whereas in the free version of Google Earth, you had to manually do so.
The free version of Google Earth only allowed you to import image files that were only up to the set maximum texture size, but now with the free availability of Google Earth Pro, users can import Super Image overlays with no set limit.
With Google Earth Pro, you can create animations which is a good tool for business users. This was not an option in the free version even though both applications used the same imagery.
Google Earth pro also lets you map multiple points at the same time as well as accessing traffic, demographic and graphic data layers, another feature that you couldn’t find in the free version of Google Earth.
Even though Google Earth Pro is now freely available for download, you still need to obtain a key that you can get at no charge. A small inconvenience that hopefully Google will eliminate in the future.
Google Earth Pro basically builds on the amazing functionality that is available in the free version of Google Earth. It is still unclear why Google decided to suddenly offer it for free but then again, why does Google do some of the things it does. Frankly speaking, we are just glad that they did. Another awesome product from one of the biggest companies to ever be built.
Google Earth lets you go anywhere through satellite imagery all in one place. You can see the farthest corners of our galaxies in outer space or view the deepest depths of the oceans. What man’s cameras have seen, Google Earth makes it all available to you, in 3d with the click of a mouse. That is a lot of useful and very valuable information to give away for free. Most skeptics say that there must be a catch, well only Google Inc. knows that for now.
