Google has recently announced the discontinuation of the paid version of Google Earth, Google Earth Plus, which was priced at an yearly subscription of just $20.
Such a move was quite expected as there were only two primary features in ‘Google Earth Plus’, which were absent in the free version: GPS support, and support for limited spreadsheet input.
Google stated in the discontinuation announcement that ‘GPS support‘, the main reason for most of the users to subscribe ‘Google Earth Plus’ will be part of the free version of Google Earth in the future updates.
Google Earth Pro, the professional version of ‘Google Earth’ for commercial use is now the only paid subscription for multiple advanced features of Google Earth.
But most of the general purpose users are quite satisfied with the free version of Google Earth. This free “Satellite imagery geographic analysis service” beats many other paid services by all possible quality standards.
Google Earth is such a tool which is dominant in its niche and is used extensively, from common users to professionals for having satellite view of various locations and study geographical parameters such as latitude-longitude, aerial distance between any two locations, business locations and exact roadmaps to farthest end locations around the globe.
Recent add-ons include photo realistic buildings,sky exploration and much more. Below are those four ‘killer’ features that makes Google Earth almost invincible in its arena.(there’s hardly anybody interested in even challenging them at the moment).
1. Street view
The panoramic images prove very useful in identifying a location when satellite view is not giving you the actual street view.It was there in Google Maps already and now it’s there in Google Earth as well ! 360 degree view is available as well.
2. Photo realistic buildings
Having a look at 3D buildings of cities is just amazing.Although cities having this feature enabled are still limited(they are adding more cities regularly) but still this feature gives an absolutely phenomenal experience to the users.
3. Excellent navigation
Seamless navigation has always been the USP of Google Earth.Zooming in from outer space to street level and hopping from one location to another is a child’s play(and it’s quite fun !).Joystick can also be used to view buildings as well.
4. Space exploration
This feature has been exceptional in many regards.The astronomical images that were prerogative of top space research centers (such as NASA) are now available to users of Google Earth to sneak peak into the space.Now,galaxies and supernovas can also be seen through this tool
If you haven’t downloaded free version of Google Earth yet,you can get it here