If you’ve ever wanted to be Superman—soaring above our globe, diving deep in the ocean, or launching into outer space—Google Earth 5 can grant your wish. In exchange, you’ll have to put up with a few bugs, an inelegant interface, and a controversial update system. Still, the delight of a superhero’s-eye view of Earth is almost too much fun to pass up.
Google Earth applies satellite imagery and topographical data to a 3-D globe. In some major cities, you’ll even see fully textured 3-D buildings and landmarks. You can enhance these maps with a smorgasbord of relevant data, including photographs, Wikipedia entries, and YouTube videos. (Google Earth downloads data on the fly, so the graphics occasionally stuttered as I traveled the globe, even on a speedy aluminum MacBook.) Learning the program’s basics is easy, but for anything more complex, you’ll need to brave Google’s sprawling online user guide.
Bored with Earth? Google Sky offers a map of the heavens packed with Hubble Space Telescope imagery, and Google Mars lets you explore the Red Planet. The latter feature is particularly fun; you can follow the paths of the Spirit and Opportunity rovers, or converse with a Martian chatbot near the famous “Face on Mars.” All these features are available in Google Earth’s free regular version. For $400, you can upgrade to Google Earth Pro, which I didn’t review. According to Google’s Web site, the Pro version includes faster performance, the ability to make movies of your virtual travels, support for GIS (geographical information system) and GPS data, and higher-resolution image printing, among other features.
- Operating System: Windows XP
- CPU: Pentium 4 2.4GHz+ or AMD 2400xp+
- System Memory (RAM): 512MB
- Hard Disk: 2GB free space
- Network Speed: 768 Kbits/sec
- Graphics Card: 3D-capable with 32MB of VRAM
- Screen: 1280x1024, "32-bit True Color"
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