Software Review: Google Earth

Are you a guy and new to city? A lazy-a**ed stalker with a restraining order? Well, the answer to all your problems is here! With Google Earth, you never have to ask for directions ever again, and for stalkers, you now can view a satellite image of your obsession's rooftop without violating your 20 meters court restraining order, all in the comfort of your home!

Yep, Google has done it again, Google has made is a new software that would revolutionize the internet as we know it. Google Earth is a geographic search engine where you can find satellite images of a place. But more than just a bunch of satellite photos, you can actually combine the satellite images with maps, or choose to view the terrain and buildings of a place in 3D! Stalkers, how cool is that?!! You can actually choose which tree is best to hide in! It's literally having the world at your fingertips.

WHAT'S COOL

One cool feature about this software is the 3D globe which is the first thing you'll see when you start the software. After typing in an address, the globe would sort of rotate and zoom in on your destination. It really is like flying! It's also very easy to use. You can navigate your way using a navigation compass where you can zoom, tilt and rotate the world anyway you like.

You can search for streets, postal codes, cities, states, countries, even business names. Another great feature, take note men who hate asking for directions, is that you can get to any place you want by clicking on the "from here" and "to here" on the place balloons and the software would "fly" you along your route.

The software is integrated with Wikepedia, National Geographic and Panoramio. Popular places that are probably on Wikipedia will have a link and you would be taken to their respective web pages.

Do you have a friend visiting your city and you're worried that they'd be lost? Well, you can actually create and map out the directions, or create a placemark of certain points of interest and email it to them. Google Earth also allows you to print, save and email the satellite images.

WHAT'S NOT

Google Earth is still fairly new and the only close satellite images that you would come across are big cities all over the world. If you're trying to see your rooftop and you're in a small town, chances are you won't be able to see it, only the topography of your place.

I tried to visit my small hometown and even the treetops are blurry. I tried to search for my sister's address in England, and I thought that it would have close-up satellite images but no such luck, only a map of the place.

The 3D buildings are only available for big cities like New York City. Try searching for a place in Manhattan and when you zoom in, you would see some 3d images of some buildings. It's like taking a virtual tour of Manhattan, though the graphics still need some tweaking.

BOTTOME LINE

This is still a great software. If you're bored to death or you just want to see satellite images of your town or a city, you should definitely download this. You need a broadband connection and your PC specs should be from within the recent two years. Download it now, and see the world right in the comfort of your home.