Google Earth Pro Now Available for Free!


Yesterday I caught an article from TechCrunch that says that Google Earth Pro is now available for free! If you are a social studies or geography teacher, you may want to go and grab it. According to TechCrunch, here are the additional features that the Pro version offers:
  • Print images at 4800×3200; non-Pro is capped at 1000×1000.
  • Automatically import a few thousand addresses at once to be pinned on a map
  • Capture HD videos of what’s on screen.
  • Measure distances/areas using lines, paths, polygons, circles, and more. Non-pro can only handle lines/paths.
I think that the second and forth bullets are especially valuable to classroom teachers. If I were a science teacher, importing addresses to be pinned on a map all at once could make it easy for viewing vast amounts of data like bird migration patterns, etc. The fourth point could also be helpful for math teachers to examine the areas and distances between points. For science teachers, I could envision students mapping out watersheds and then looking at the area it covers. Or looking at migration or movement of animals to see the amount of area that one animal would cover or need to live. The possibilities are pretty darn endless with it!

According to TechCrunch, "you’ll still need to get a key from Google to unlock the Pro features, but that’s a matter of filling out a quick form. (Ignore the “free trial” bit in the URL; the new free license should work indefinitely.) Then you’d download the free Pro client from right here."

I just downloaded it and am installing now. Are you doing the same? Check it out and let me know what you think!

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