Which Version Is for You?

Google offers three different versions of Google Earth, all downloadable from earth.google.com:

• Google Earth (free version), the version for most users that lets you perform a variety of general mapping functions. This version is a free download.

• Google Earth Plus, which can be purchased for $20. This version includes all the features of the basic version, and adds support for GPS devices (Magellan and Garmin units only), the ability to import spreadsheet data, a variety of drawing tools for annotation purposes, and high-resolution printing.

• Google Earth Pro, designed for professional and commercial use. This version, which costs $400, includes all the features of Google Earth Plus, augmented with multiple terabytes of detailed aerial and satellite images from cities around the world, the ability to import custom data and blueprints, and use a variety of add-on modules. The add-on modules (which cost $200 apiece) include a Movie Making Module (for creating WMV-format movies of zooms and tours), a Premium Printing Module, a GIS Data Importing Module, a CDT Traffic Counts Module, and an NRB Shopping Center Data Module.

Which version should you use? For most individuals, the free version is more than adequate. If you want to interface Google Earth with a GPS unit, spend the twenty bucks for Google Earth Plus. And if you intend to use Google Earth for professional use (commercial real estate, construction and engineering, insurance, intelligence and homeland security, and so on), investigate the much more robust Google Earth Pro.

For the purposes of this chapter, we'll focus on the free version of Google Earth.