Mediaboss Marketing

TodayGoogle Google has announced that Google Earth Pro is now available for free. Google Earth Pro used to cost$399 per year. Google Earth is a geospatial software application that displays a virtual globe, which offers the ability to analyze and capture geographical data. Google Earth was created after Google acquiredCIA-funded Keyhole Inc. in 2004. Under Keyhole, the application was known asEarthViewer 3D. TheGoogle Earth desktop client hit the billion download mark in October 2011.

There are several differences between the free version of Google Earth and Google Earth Pro. The free version of Google Earth lets you print screen resolution images, whereas Google Earth Pro offerspremium high resolution photos. The free version of Google Earth requires you to manually geo-locategeographic information system (GIS) images, but Google Earth Pro helpsyou automatically find them. And the free version of Google Earth only allows you to import image files that are up to a max texture size, but Google Earth Pro offers Super Image Overlays that are more than the max texture size.

GoogleEarth Pro usesthe same imagery as the free version ofGoogleEarth. However,GoogleEarth Prooffers additional tools designed for business users like the ability to create animation movies and an option to set upmeasuring areas of polygons or circles.GoogleEarth Pro also lets you map multiple points at once and lets you access demographic, graphic and traffic data layers.

Over the last 10 years, businesses, scientists and hobbyists from all over the world have been usingGoogleEarth Pro for everything from planning hikes to placing solar panels on rooftops.GoogleEarth Pro has all the easy-to-use features and detailed imagery ofGoogleEarth, along with advanced tools that help you measure 3D buildings, print high-resolution images for presentations or reports, and record HD movies of your virtual flights around the world, saidGoogleEarth Pro product manager Stafford Marquardt.

Google Earth Pro / Credit: Google

Data in Google Earth Pro that I findmost compelling is the U.S. demographics information. For each state, you can find out demographic information in regards to the age, education, gender and income for the current year or the five-year projected.This data could be useful for businesses toconductmarketing research.

RockWare, a geological software company based in Golden, Colorado founded in 1983, is known for taking field measurements at the Front Range of the Rocky Mountains to determine the mysteries underneath the surface that are causing the tilts of rock formations. With a GPS device and specialty tools, RockWare plots the data on a map to gain intuitive 3D understanding of the rocks and then imports this data into Google Earth Pro. Using this data Google Earth Pro produces interactive 3D visuals, which RockWare shares with their customers. If a toxic spill leaks into the water table, RockWare can model the spread and speed of the contamination using animations. RockWares clients can understand the impact of these types of geological events so that they will know how to act upon them. Here is a videofeaturingresearchers at RockWare discussing how they use Google Earth Pro:

You can request a free key for Google Earth Pro at: https://geoauth.google.com/gev0/free_trial.html. The e-mail address thatyou use to register for Google Earth Pro will be your username. After you sign up, Google will send you a key to enter when you openGoogle Earth Pro.

Do you use Google Earth or Google Earth Pro? What are your thoughts about Google Earth Pro becoming a free service? Let us know in the comments section below!

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Google Earth Pro Is Now Available For Free