Google Earth and other GPS (latitude/longitude) lookup software

[Seamaiden]

Is Google Earth (free version) really free, or does it contain adware /
spyware?
Does the free version give you latitude/longitude (GPS coordinates) for
any point on the planet, or do you need the Plus version for that?

Google Earth Homepage
http://earth.google.com/earth_plus.html

Comparison Chart (Free - Plus - Pro)
http://earth.google.com/product_comparison.html

If the free version does not let you look up the latitude and longitude
(GPS coordinates) for any city on the planet, is there any free program
or free online site that can do this?

I wish to add some cities to the FoxClocks extension for Firefox and
Thunderbird. Believe it or not, Washington, D.C. isn't even in the list!
The Sun Cult extension gives me coordinates for more cities, but not all
of the ones I'm looking for.

 

[hummingbird]

Is Google Earth (free version) really free, or does it contain adware /
spyware?
Does the free version give you latitude/longitude (GPS coordinates) for
any point on the planet, or do you need the Plus version for that?

Google Earth Homepage
http://earth.google.com/earth_plus.html

Comparison Chart (Free - Plus - Pro)
http://earth.google.com/product_comparison.html

If the free version does not let you look up the latitude and longitude
(GPS coordinates) for any city on the planet, is there any free program
or free online site that can do this?

I wish to add some cities to the FoxClocks extension for Firefox and
Thunderbird. Believe it or not, Washington, D.C. isn't even in the list!
The Sun Cult extension gives me coordinates for more cities, but not all
of the ones I'm looking for.

Yes www.flashearth.com gives lat/lon for anywhere on the planet.
I use it all the time and it's full screen!. But note it requires
the latest v8 of flash and java scripting activated (but not java
application). Click/hold your mouse on screen to move around.

 

[Seamaiden]

Yes www.flashearth.com gives lat/lon for anywhere on the planet.
I use it all the time and it's full screen!. But note it requires
the latest v8 of flash and java scripting activated (but not java
application). Click/hold your mouse on screen to move around.

Thank you, but Flash Earth won't work for me. I was able to zoom in but
could not tell which city on the page the coordinates shown were
pointing to. Moving my mouse around and clicking on the different cities
did not change the coordinates. I need something a little more accurate
that's easier to use.

Can you answer my questions about Google Earth? Can the free version
look up coordinates? I just need to know what they are and do not need
to download them into a GPS device. (Importing into a device requires
Google Earth Plus/Pro and a yearly subscription.)

Also, can Google Earth (or FlashEarth) replace Xearth so that I do not
have to install Xearth? Xearth is a neat program, but I'm hoping there
is a replacement with a more modern 3D graphical representation of the
earth and more features. Whatever program I choose needs to let me look
up the latitude and longitude for any city, not just cities in the US.

 

[Riggs]

Is Google Earth (free version) really free, or does it contain adware /
spyware?
Does the free version give you latitude/longitude (GPS coordinates) for
any point on the planet, or do you need the Plus version for that?

Google Earth Homepage
http://earth.google.com/earth_plus.html

Comparison Chart (Free - Plus - Pro)
http://earth.google.com/product_comparison.html

If the free version does not let you look up the latitude and longitude
(GPS coordinates) for any city on the planet, is there any free program
or free online site that can do this?

I wish to add some cities to the FoxClocks extension for Firefox and
Thunderbird. Believe it or not, Washington, D.C. isn't even in the list!
The Sun Cult extension gives me coordinates for more cities, but not all
of the ones I'm looking for.

I use Google Earth and have found no adware/spyware on my machine. The pay
version allows you to plug in a GPS. The free version will give you the
long/lat of whatever city or area you're looking at.


--

 

[Tweedledum]

Is Google Earth (free version) really free, or does it contain adware /
spyware?
Does the free version give you latitude/longitude (GPS coordinates) for
any point on the planet, or do you need the Plus version for that?

Google Earth Homepage
http://earth.google.com/earth_plus.html

Comparison Chart (Free - Plus - Pro)
http://earth.google.com/product_comparison.html

If the free version does not let you look up the latitude and longitude
(GPS coordinates) for any city on the planet, is there any free program
or free online site that can do this?

I wish to add some cities to the FoxClocks extension for Firefox and
Thunderbird. Believe it or not, Washington, D.C. isn't even in the list!
The Sun Cult extension gives me coordinates for more cities, but not all
of the ones I'm looking for.

I have not heard of any spyware in Google Earth....

If you can stand another piece of software, World Clock at
http://www.pawprint.net/wt/ has a world map view that indicates the
lat-long as you mouse over it. It only shows the cites that you
designate in the clock view, but you can zoom in and if you know the
area at all, you can get very close.

It's a great piece of software...it also show distance from any
particular city.

 

[Tweedledum]

If you can stand another piece of software, World Clock at
http://www.pawprint.net/wt/ has a world map view that indicates the
lat-long as you mouse over it. It only shows the cites that you
designate in the clock view, but you can zoom in and if you know the
area at all, you can get very close.

It's a great piece of software...it also show distance from any
particular city.

(it also has a VERY large list of cities)

 

[Seamaiden]

(it also has a VERY large list of cities)

Yes, I'm familiar with WorldTime from PawPrint.net. I like the StopWatch
feature. I don't use it for the clocks any more because I like FoxClocks
better, but you're right. There are more cities listed there. I
formatted and did a clean install recently and don't have everything
reinstalled yet. So I'm going through my list of programs and seeing if
there are updates or replacement programs that are better. Maybe I
should install WorldTime and just not use it for the clocks. I think I
will definitely try Google Earth. What about Xearth? Do I need it any
more? What I liked about it was that it could show me what parts of the
earth were day and what parts were night. It also showed earthquake
information.

 

[Alex Balfour]

Is Google Earth (free version) really free, or does it contain adware
/ spyware?
Does the free version give you latitude/longitude (GPS coordinates)
for any point on the planet, or do you need the Plus version for that?

Google Earth Homepage
http://earth.google.com/earth_plus.html

Comparison Chart (Free - Plus - Pro)
http://earth.google.com/product_comparison.html

If the free version does not let you look up the latitude and
longitude (GPS coordinates) for any city on the planet, is there any
free program or free online site that can do this?

I wish to add some cities to the FoxClocks extension for Firefox and
Thunderbird. Believe it or not, Washington, D.C. isn't even in the
list! The Sun Cult extension gives me coordinates for more cities,
but not all of the ones I'm looking for.

Calendar Magic (http://www.stokepoges.plus.com) will provide latitude
and longitude info for any of the 8000 cities and towns in its
world-wide database. Just use the Global Distances function.

Alex Balfour

 

[Tom Simms]

On Tue, 21 Mar 2006 19:19:26 +0000, hummingbird

Yes www.flashearth.com gives lat/lon for anywhere on the planet.
I use it all the time and it's full screen!. But note it requires
the latest v8 of flash and java scripting activated (but not java
application). Click/hold your mouse on screen to move around.

Very nice site, thanks for posting Hummingbird.

 

[hummingbird]

On Tue, 21 Mar 2006 19:19:26 +0000, hummingbird



Very nice site, thanks for posting Hummingbird.

You're welcome...
When I zoomed in to the area of London where I live and jiggled it
around, it actually is so detailed, it shows the roof of my home and
the garden and the colour of cars on the street! Almost scary ;-)

 

[hummingbird]

Thank you, but Flash Earth won't work for me. I was able to zoom in but
could not tell which city on the page the coordinates shown were
pointing to. Moving my mouse around and clicking on the different cities
did not change the coordinates. I need something a little more accurate
that's easier to use.

I'm not sure where the problem is ...flashearth is 100% accurate.

There are two ways to locate exact locations:
1.You need to zoom out first to get yourself orientated on the city of
your choice and then zoom in bit x bit, all the time clicking/moving
the screen focus to the exact area of the city you want to look at
in detail. The latitude/longitude appears in the lower right corner.

Doing this I was able to focus exactly onto my home and garden in
London, UK and the co-ords appeared in the lower corner. I was also
able to focus in on the street in a Brazilian NE town where I'm hoping
to build a new home, although small towns don't have as much detail
as big cities.

2.Another way to do it is to start with www.multimap.com
Enter an exact country/address in the search box and when it displays
it also gives the lat/lon co-ords which you can then note down and use
them in flashearth to easily locate said address using the mouse
click/drag technique, all the time watching the co-ords moving in real
time. I used this to locate my brothers address in a small UK town.
Are you with me?

Can you answer my questions about Google Earth? Can the free version
look up coordinates? I just need to know what they are and do not need
to download them into a GPS device. (Importing into a device requires
Google Earth Plus/Pro and a yearly subscription.)

Also, can Google Earth (or FlashEarth) replace Xearth so that I do not
have to install Xearth? Xearth is a neat program, but I'm hoping there
is a replacement with a more modern 3D graphical representation of the
earth and more features. Whatever program I choose needs to let me look
up the latitude and longitude for any city, not just cities in the US.

Flashearth gives co-ords for any location in the world.

I only use flashearth because it's full screen, loads v/fast and is
brilliant and not cluttered with Google ads crap. I suggest you play
around with it some more to see what it can do.

 

[Al Klein]

Thank you, but Flash Earth won't work for me. I was able to zoom in but
could not tell which city on the page the coordinates shown were
pointing to. Moving my mouse around and clicking on the different cities
did not change the coordinates. I need something a little more accurate
that's easier to use.

If you email me a list of addresses (or just "center of ..."s), I'll
email you back a list of Lat/Lon figures. I run Maps and Streets
($ware) and it's pretty accurate (and simple enough that I don't mind
doing it for you).

 

[Father Guido]

Unless you're adding 10's of city co-ordinates, you could just look up
the city in Wikipedia, most major cities will have articles and their
position on the earth. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Washington_DC =

Coordinates 38°53'42.4" N
77°02'12.0" W
_____________________________________________________________________

~Tweedledum wrote:
~>> If you can stand another piece of software, World Clock at
~>> http://www.pawprint.net/wt/ has a world map view that indicates
the
~>> lat-long as you mouse over it. It only shows the cites that you
~>> designate in the clock view, but you can zoom in and if you know
the
~>> area at all, you can get very close.
~>>
~>> It's a great piece of software...it also show distance from any
~>> particular city.
~>
~> (it also has a VERY large list of cities)
~
~Yes, I'm familiar with WorldTime from PawPrint.net. I like the
StopWatch
~feature. I don't use it for the clocks any more because I like
FoxClocks
~better, but you're right. There are more cities listed there. I
~formatted and did a clean install recently and don't have everything
~reinstalled yet. So I'm going through my list of programs and seeing
if
~there are updates or replacement programs that are better. Maybe I
~should install WorldTime and just not use it for the clocks. I think
I
~will definitely try Google Earth. What about Xearth? Do I need it any
~more? What I liked about it was that it could show me what parts of
the
~earth were day and what parts were night. It also showed earthquake
~information.

 

[Jesse Spencer]

I only use flashearth because it's full screen, loads v/fast and is
brilliant and not cluttered with Google ads crap. I suggest you play
around with it some more to see what it can do.

At first I was also lost. But enabling "icons" or tags cleared things
up. Think this is really nice tool...less cluttered than google.
Thanks

 

[Terry Russell]

yes,no,yes,no
it really really needs broadband but will run on dialup.

if they really wanted it could be very effective spyware and no need for
it to report anything, given that one of the first things most people do
is zoom into their city/suburb/property/section of new roof

and try not to run googleearth and googlevideo at the same time

I use Google Earth and have found no adware/spyware on my machine. The pay
version allows you to plug in a GPS. The free version will give you the
long/lat of whatever city or area you're looking at.

And altitude, apart from a few gliches.
Flashearth livelocal is more realistic , google makes the world look
hopelessly
green and lush.
http://www.flashearth.com/?lat=-26.385186&lon=132.1398&z=10.7&r=0&src=0

Many areas have local spelling in google search.

If you give googleearth a couple of gig it caches, so you don't need to wait
for reload.

And googleearth has the map tilt/pan so you can get a nice feel for the
geography from
low altitude with the vertical photos draped over a virtual landscape.

 

[Crystal]

Is Google Earth (free version) really free, or does it contain adware /
spyware?
Does the free version give you latitude/longitude (GPS coordinates) for
any point on the planet, or do you need the Plus version for that?

Google Earth Homepage
http://earth.google.com/earth_plus.html

Comparison Chart (Free - Plus - Pro)
http://earth.google.com/product_comparison.html

If the free version does not let you look up the latitude and longitude
(GPS coordinates) for any city on the planet, is there any free program
or free online site that can do this?

I wish to add some cities to the FoxClocks extension for Firefox and
Thunderbird. Believe it or not, Washington, D.C. isn't even in the list!
The Sun Cult extension gives me coordinates for more cities, but not all
of the ones I'm looking for.

I installed Google Earth after reading what all of you had to say, and I
like it. I zoomed in to see all the buildings in my apartment complex,
but I can't tell exactly which one is mine. It's definitely not where
Google thinks it is (along the main street). However, I can edit the
pointer and move it manually to a more likely area where my building is.
The GPS coordinates change whenever I move the mouse or pointer. Google
Earth is pretty accurate for a free program. You should try it.

 

[Seamaiden]

I installed Google Earth after reading what all of you had to say, and I
like it. I zoomed in to see all the buildings in my apartment complex,
but I can't tell exactly which one is mine. It's definitely not where
Google thinks it is (along the main street). However, I can edit the
pointer and move it manually to a more likely area where my building is.
The GPS coordinates change whenever I move the mouse or pointer. Google
Earth is pretty accurate for a free program. You should try it.

I will. Thank you.

 

[P. Burrows]

Is Google Earth (free version) really free, or does it contain adware /
spyware?

Why don't you just try it?

Does the free version give you latitude/longitude (GPS coordinates) for
any point on the planet, or do you need the Plus version for that?

And, why don't you read on their page what the difference between the
free and the plus version is?

Yes, you can see any place on the planet - the "worst" resolution is at
15 meters. Yes you can run into adds if you search for something, say
you are looking for resturants the placemarks may have a little extra
sponsor text - but like all google adds, its small, unobtrusive and
often relevant for what you were looking for.

Google Earth Homepage
http://earth.google.com/earth_plus.html

Comparison Chart (Free - Plus - Pro)
http://earth.google.com/product_comparison.html

If the free version does not let you look up the latitude and longitude
(GPS coordinates)

I don't know what you mean by GPS coordinates, but you can enter
latitude and logitude if you like (or switch on the layer which shows
names of cities and simply rotate the globe and zoom in)

 

[P. Burrows]

At first I was also lost. But enabling "icons" or tags cleared things
up. Think this is really nice tool...less cluttered than google.
Thanks

Nothing is less cluttered than google earth, you can have a full screen
sattelite picture devoid of overlay (if you spend 3 seconds
understanding the interface ;-)

 

[P. Burrows]

You're welcome...
When I zoomed in to the area of London where I live and jiggled it
around, it actually is so detailed, it shows the roof of my home and
the garden and the colour of cars on the street! Almost scary ;-)

Yes Google Earth is cool (since they are using their images without
permission)