D
Daze N. Knights
John said:Im just downloading this myself...
http://dl.google.com/earth/GE4/GoogleEarthWin.exe
The latest version of Google Earth is being released in beta form. We've
added several new features that will make your Earth browsing even better.
Less Is More - A New UI
The most obvious change is a new and, we think, simpler user interface.P
We've reorganized the data layers to make it easier to find layers and turn
them on and off. The nav panel at the bottom of the screen is gone, freeing
up more real estate for actual imagery. The nav panel tools are still
accessible, though; the nav controllers are now in the upper right and the
tools (measure, print, email) are in the new tools bar along the top.
Free Feel To Change Your World
Seeing buildings in 3D is one of the coolest things about Google Earth. And
with this release, this feature is even better. For the first time, we
support "textured" 3D buildings, meaning the bricks look like real bricks,
the glass like real glass, and overall, the world looks more like, well, the
real world. It's just one more step on the path of creating a life-like 3D
model of the whole planet. There's just one catch - there aren't many
photorealistic 3D building models out there. Yet. That's where Google
Sketchup comes in
With Google Sketchup, you can now create your own textured 3D models. Here
are some examples:
Creating and Sharing Geographic Information - A New Type Of KML
The best thing Google Earth's got going for it is the creativity of the
millions of users who are adding and sharing geographic information. And
with Google Earth (Release 4 BETA), we've expanded that capability in "KML,"
the file format Google Earth uses to add and share data.
One of the reasons that Google Earth is so fast is that when you're flying
around, you're only streaming in the pieces of the imagery that you need.
But until now, importing KML meant loading everything - it was either all on
or all off. This meant that loading, for instance, the topographic maps for
all of Yosemite would grind Google Earth to a halt. For this new release,
we've built the same smart loading techniques into KML, which means you can
overlay large data sets without sacrificing performance.
Additional Features:
* We've released versions of Google Earth in French, Italian, German, and
Spanish.
* We've made improvements to our GPS support (Google Earth Plus only)
* We've improved the terrain, so peaks and valleys are more realistic
13 Jun 2006
Please report on your experience with it (and the specs of the system
you're using it on).