Google Earth. It’s one of those programs that inspires awe and continues to amaze me. Many hours can be spent within this gorgeous interface for both education and entertainment.
You won’t be disappointed.
Google has always provided a free version but now they have done the unthinkable. The Pro version, normally priced at $399 US annually, is now being given away. You heard me right– free of charge!
The Pro version offers these extras, to name a few:
- Movies – Windows Media and QuickTime, up to 1,920 x 1,080 resolution. The free version was limited to 1000 pixels
- New Layers – Demographics, traffic count, and others
- Hi-Res Printing –: Up to 4,800 x 3,200 resolution
- Measurement Tools – Both polygon and circle measurements
For those who may not be familiar with this outstanding piece of software, here’s a quick example of its capabilities:
To get your free copy, go to this Google Download Site.
Once installed, use your eMail address as a User Name, and GEPFREE for the Password.
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Explore your world from the comfort of your home. Fly down into your neighborhood and find your house. Make a movie! Imagination is your only limitation.
Enjoy!
Richard
Nice find Richard!
This is an incredible piece of software that we would have considered science fiction a few years ago.
Downloaded.
Yes, nice find Richard. What is not nice and the reason many will evoke add blocking on the site is the use of deceptive advertising designed to trick those who are not as cautious. What I am talking about are those redirections in the middle of the article like;
Translate Instantly Now
SHA-2 SSL Migration
and one that had wording referencing Google, but was an ASK module.
If you wish to advertise, find. If you want to use trickery to trap the unaware I will be blocking those adds.
There is no deception – those ads are served directly from and by Google – and I’m not really sure where you get “deceptive” from to begin with. Heck, I’m not sure where the trickery is either.
Hi Tom,
First, I want to make it very clear there is no intentional “trickery” or “deception” in place. To the contrary, Dave is working very hard to get those ads placed properly so there is no confusion.
Anytime a new theme is installed, there is a ton of work to be done in the background. Things the general reader knows nothing about. Ad placement is one element of this complex task.
All I can ask in the mean time is to be patient. We’ll get it right in the end.
Thanks for pointing this out and rest assured Dave is giving it his full attention,
Richard
While it may not be intentional it certainly can be deceptive! The ads he’s talking about are in the middle of the text and are intentionally made to look like part of the article. VERY easy to click by accident. Ads should be OBVIOUSLY ads, not made to look like part of the article or story. Sorry, I enjoy the newsletter/articles but other less well informed readers/users will click those ads unaware that they were being redirected to an advertisement for something or even some adware or malware! Make them more prominent or put them in frames or SOMETHING please!
Hi Joel,
I agree with you wholeheartedly. I have seen exactly what you’re talking about and it is an on-going problem. However, I can assure you, there is absolutely no intention on our part to deliberately make the ads appear to be part of the article.
Please realize we are working on this issue and can only ask for your patience.
Thanks for your input, it is appreciated.
Richard
I could play with this for a long time. I can find my house but not the address because the road I live on is listed wrong. I guess that is the trouble with living in rural Arkansas. At least I came still find my way home. Thanks for the link Richard. Daniel.
Hi dandl,
Great stuff, isn’t it? 🙂
Thanks and have fun!
Richard
^5ing you way to go thank you Richard, I feel like I’ve just won the lotto!
Hi Sherri,
You’re most welcome.
Hold yourself back! It’s easy to be wiled into Google Earth and the hours do slip by 😉
Richard
Great find, Thanks Richard. My only problem is the install fails every time. I’ve been trying for a month, no joy.
Larry
Hi Larry,
I have to admit to not installing Google Earth just yet. I’m thinking about getting a new Motherboard and am avoiding further installations at this point. You know, to keep all those backups down to size…
For the benefit of this post, I will install it according to the recommendations posted above.
Sorry you’re having problems. I’ll see what happens and let you know how it goes for me,
Richard
Update: I just installed Google Earth Pro on my computer. It worked just fine.
I know this isn’t any help to you, but at least you know it works on other systems. Apparently, there is something peculiar to your computer that is keeping it from working properly.
Make sure your Windows installation is up to date
Make sure all your graphics drivers are up to date
Create backups before you start tweaking stuff because you are frustrated
Let me know how it goes
Larry, have you tried temporarily disabling your antivirus and then installing?
Jim makes a good point and one that rarely occurs to me.
Am I correct that this program tracks ones location (ip address)? Might be an excellent program, but if it can track our moves, is it wise to install, Mindblower!
Howdy mindblower!
You are right, in a way.
Any program on your computer can track your position if it designed to do so. The trick is that your computer has to be set up to offer this information.
Without looking it up, I think Windows 8.x enables this feature by default; it can be turned off (disabled).
The bottom line is this– if the computer doesn’t know where it is, then neither does your software. (I can’t speak for phones and such, since I don’t own one.)
Geographical location policies are an option, not a mandate,
Richard
Yes, I have successfully downloaded and installed Google Earth Pro, using my email address as the user name and entering GEPFREE as the licence number. And I’m sure Google Earth Pro is an incredible piece of software. But it’s much more difficult to get a decent street view of an address with it than it is with Google Maps, which is available for anyone to use free of charge!