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Google Earth Pro is now free

google-latlong.blogspot.com

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Re: Google Earth Pro is now free

#31

Post by blowski »

tazjin wrote: post #29
raverbashing wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yeah, too bad Bing Maps search is a bad joke. Really You have to specify if it's a Address or a Place (if your initial search doesn't work, which is pretty much always)

Where I live (Stockholm) Google Maps has become completely useless at finding anything. It used to be the case that you could search for the name of a store chain (e.g. Systembolaget - the state alcohol stores) and it would show some of their stores on a map around you, nowadays it picks some random one (never close to where you are) and displays that instead. The same thing has started happening for lots of places t…

Similar anecdote here. I live in the south east of England, just outside London. If I search for 'pizza restaurant' it shows me somewhere in the Phillipines. Searching for 'pharmacy' shows somewhere in LA.

Re: Google Earth Pro is now free

#33

Post by raverbashing »

blowski wrote: post #31
tazjin wrote: post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Where I live (Stockholm) Google Maps has become completely useless at finding anything. It used to be the case that you could search for the name of a store chain (e.g. Systembolaget - the state alcohol stores) and it would show some of their stores on a map around you, nowadays it picks some random one (never close to where you are) and displays that instead. The same thing has started happening for lots of places t…

Similar anecdote here. I live in the south east of England, just outside London. If I search for 'pizza restaurant' it shows me somewhere in the Phillipines. Searching for 'pharmacy' shows somewhere in LA.

Unfortunately I have to agree with both of you, even though my experience in finding the places is not that bad on GMaps

But the "new GMaps quirks" are awful

Re: Google Earth Pro is now free

#34

Post by [deleted] »

tga_d wrote: post #14

Linux support is pretty ambiguous. The download link says "Download Google Earth Pro for PC or Mac," the minimum specifications link gives specifications for Linux, the actual download gives you a binary called GoogleEarthLinux.bin, but when installed gives you an outdated (3 years) and non-pro copy of google earth.

[deleted]

Re: Google Earth Pro is now free

#36

Post by 7952 »

ghshephard wrote: post #10
mden wrote: post #3

This sounds really awesome, but does anyone have an explanation as to why they are doing it? Building something like Google Earth Pro must take many millions of dollars, so why would a company release it for free?

Google Earth cost on the order of 10s of millions of dollars to write, with a couple of the key companies, keyhole and Where2, being acquired for approx. $40mm. [1] . Google Earth Pro is a small, but very useful addition to the base Google Earth - I know a lot of network designers who get by just fine with Google Earth, and have never availed themselves of Google Earth Pro. The real cost, of course, is maintaining an…

Google Earth has never been a serious competitor for GIS. If they had added more features 5 years ago it may have gained traction.

It is great for viewing and creating small datasets. Viewing larger datasets required a surprising amount of effort in terms of tiling and converting. The tools built into Google Earth were never very good and people were pointed at server products. This was completely at odds with the simple ethos of Google Earth and often lead companies to invest in expensive ESRI products that offered Google Earth support!

Google are concentrating on server products with web interfaces and GE never fit into that. It is fantastic for professional users but Google have no idea how to sell to those kind of people.

Re: Google Earth Pro is now free

#37

Post by cotillion »

tazjin wrote: post #29
raverbashing wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yeah, too bad Bing Maps search is a bad joke. Really You have to specify if it's a Address or a Place (if your initial search doesn't work, which is pretty much always)

Where I live (Stockholm) Google Maps has become completely useless at finding anything. It used to be the case that you could search for the name of a store chain (e.g. Systembolaget - the state alcohol stores) and it would show some of their stores on a map around you, nowadays it picks some random one (never close to where you are) and displays that instead. The same thing has started happening for lots of places t…

It seems even Google has found Lantmäteriets (state owned mapping company) fees to be too high. All building outlines they used to get from them are gone also.

Hemnet recently created an OSM layer just to get building outlines again.

Re: Google Earth Pro is now free

#38

Post by GFischer »

tazjin wrote: post #29
raverbashing wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yeah, too bad Bing Maps search is a bad joke. Really You have to specify if it's a Address or a Place (if your initial search doesn't work, which is pretty much always)

Where I live (Stockholm) Google Maps has become completely useless at finding anything. It used to be the case that you could search for the name of a store chain (e.g. Systembolaget - the state alcohol stores) and it would show some of their stores on a map around you, nowadays it picks some random one (never close to where you are) and displays that instead. The same thing has started happening for lots of places t…

Yes, it's so bad in so many places I actually started a side project / startup to provide that functionality :) .

We got to a proof-of-concept stage but it's currently on hold (the other two cofounders quit/don't have time for it either), but I think it's certainly a need that isn't being serviced by Google.

My project is called EncontraloCerca, it's supposed to be for Uruguay and Argentina first, but when we get to Stockholm I'll let you know :) .

Re: Google Earth Pro is now free

#39

Post by Intermernet »

vilhelm_s wrote: post #8
neindanke wrote: post #5

Registration is failing for me at the moment.

Yep. > Error! Your sign up can not be completed due to We're sorry. We are experiencing technical difficulties. Please try again later..

Love that error message (I'm getting it as well).

"can not be completed due to We're sorry."

I might start using that as a reason.

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