Google Earth technology has become really popular over the years. Millions of users use this application to explore and discover the world that they live in. In short, Google Earth is a virtual globe. There are countless impressive features in Google Earth that you will enjoy. Google Earth allows you to view satellite images of Earth at varying resolutions. You can see cities, houses, trees, roads, towns, virtually anything! You can view these things perpendicularly or at an angle. The degrees of resolution also depend upon the popularity of the areas. Some of the highest resolution images are available for Cambridge, Las Vegas and Melbourne.
Initially Google Earth was called the EarthViewer 3D. It was created by a CIA funded company, Keyhole Inc. In 2004, Google Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) acquired this company as well as EarthViewer 3D. The application was renamed to Google Earth. Google Earth uses images from satellites and aerial cameras, and geographical information. These are then superimposed to create a virtual globe.
In 2005, Google Earth was renamed and relaunched for use in PCs with Windows 2000 and over, Mac OS X 10.3.9 and later and Linux kernel 2.6 and above. In May 2008, Google Earth was released as a plug in for web browsers. Later in the same year, it was made available for iPhone users. Now it is available for Android users as a free app on the Google Play Store.
Google Earth can be used to see areas that have been subjected to disasters. An application of Google Earth appears in classrooms where teachers can teach students about geographical themes. The application can also be used to map homes or even choose a sample for carrying out research in other countries.
In the past six years, some pretty impressive third-party projects have come out into the field. There is some bad news for these projects though!
Google Inc. has announced that it will be retiring the programming interface of Google Earth within one year. This means that mapping software, that was built using the Google Earth API will stop working by 12th December of the next year. When questioned about this big step, Google Inc. said that this is just a security measure.
Google Earth uses a plug-in format for third-party web applications, Netscape. Netscape is very vulnerable to attack. So, the celebrated web browsers, Firefox and Google Chrome are phasing out the use of Netscape. Google Inc. does not want to leave its software open for attack.
Google Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) decision to drop the programming interface for Google Earth does not mean that the support for Google Earth has come to an end. Google Inc. said that 3-D runs in their blood. The company has more in store for the users and developers out there, some things that it won’t reveal just yet. It can’t be determined what the new arrival is; it can be a toolbox. Whatever the case, you still have a year to use the good Google Earth maps until the API phases out.
