Google Earth Comes To iPhone
Despite releasing its own smart phone operating system, Google has released Google Earth as an iPhones application. However, it’s not available in all countries yet.
The application is available for both the iPhone and the iPod touch. It takes particular advantage of those devices by using the touch-sensitive screens to control movement. Sliding a finger moves location, tilting the device switches from aerial to horizon views, and a double tap with one or two fingers zooms in and out respectively.
Logically enough, there’s a built-in facility to display your current location. There are also direct links to Wikipedia entries about particular places and around 8 million location photos from the Panoramio service.
Those who’ve used the application report it runs pretty smoothly as long as you have a decent connection, though it can take around a minute to get up and running. Though it runs in 16 languages, it’s only available in around 20 countries. That’s caused the inevitable disappointment from people elsewhere in the world, particularly given it’s about as global a feature as it gets.
The service, both on iPhones and computers, should be getting more accurate. Google recently launched its own imaging satellite which should be able to produce images with greater detail that are updates more often.
In some senses it’s a little surprising the application came out for iPhones rather than Google’s own Android system. (Google Earth head Peter Birch tells News.com he’s excited about Android but has no announcement now.) You might think there was a temptation to make such a popular feature an Android exclusive.
However, it’s possible Google didn’t want to come across as acting in an overly proprietary way, whether for legal reasons or goodwill. And more importantly, getting the application out to the iPhone opens up a large audience for advertising.
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