Using Google Earth
Of the many virtual globe programs available via the internet today, Google Earth is the oldest and the most popular. This 3D simulation of the earth is created through a combination of various kinds of mapping techniques and photography, notably satellite imaging and aerial photography.
Features of Google Earth
Google Earth is an easy to use and user friendly software which must be downloaded off the Google Earth web site. There are various download options available. The regular Google Earth software is free whereas the users of Google Earth Pro and Google Earth Plus have to pay some amount of money. Navigating the software is very easy: the scroll button on the mouse, the arrow keys on the keyboard and the drag and drop options—all can be used to explore locations on Google Earth. Any location in the world, down to the tiniest of details like address, street number, etc, is accessible through the search box provided in the sidebar. Google Earth also includes the various useful features of the Google Maps with added enhancements. Thus, one can find business enterprises or public utility services through the searches on Google Earth. The information is presented through detailed, graphical multimedia sources. The google earth has several strata of mapping. Each layer has unique content. For instance, there’s a 3D building layer. Other important layers include a traffic layer detailing information about road conditions in real time, a featured layer by NASA which gives the users the option to explore the earth during night time, a layer detailing restaurants, etc. The NASA layer is part of Google Earth’s featured content. The 3D layer lets one view the buildings from ground level as opposed to the normal aerial view. In this way, hills, gorges and other geographical features can also be viewed in great detail. The Google Earth includes one of the most comprehensive driving guides available anywhere in the world today. The driver is taken through the routes in the minutest possible details. One can receive google earth files through emails and open them by just clicking on them. Similarly, one can email google earth files to others in order to show them certain locations or terrain. The google earth sidebar has a tab named ‘my places’. One can store the one’s favourite or most often visited locations in this file thereby making it easier to locate these places subsequently. Google Earth is unique among all the virtual globes programs because it allows one to print the images and save them free of cost. The paid versions of Google Earth, however, yield better quality pictures and spreadsheets. Various online information portals and communities can be harnessed with the google earth to provide richer knowledge. National Geographic is one such source and there is a separate National Geographic layer in Google Earth.
Using Google Earth Satellite Maps
Land areas are depicted with greater resolution than the oceans and some islands, as a general rule. The satellite maps used are usually fixed in their resolution of around fifteen metre per pixel. The highest resolution is greater than this however, and can be found in the depictions of places like Las Vegas in the USA. Many national governments have been alarmed at the availability of such high resolution images of various high security risk places in their countries. Following such concerns Google earth has blurred various images through pixelization. However, citizens have also expressed concerns about their privacy being available for examination. There is growing awareness about this.
