Roger Fingas
Google on Wednesday released a major update of Google Earth for iOS, most notably delivering an expected switch to 64-bit code — something essential for the app to keep running on this fall's iOS 11.
Until recently, Google Earth was a largely neglected app with few updates. Running it on iOS 10.3.x devices triggered a warning saying it wouldn't be supported in future versions of iOS — Apple is in the process of phasing out all 32-bit compatibility for the sake of performance.
New features in Earth include Voyager, which uses the app's features to showcase stories themed around different places, people, and activities. "Knowledge cards" offer extra details about geography and points of interest, and a 2D/3D button quickly switches between views — the 3D option initially circling around a central point, like Flyover in Apple Maps.
Smaller additions include a randomizer button, and Postcards, effectively screenshots that can be shared with other people.
The new edition of Google Earth is a free download, and runs on any device with iOS 9 or later.
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Malcolm Owen
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4 Comments
Cool. Will be checking this out immediately.
UPDATE: Not so cool! It's less accurate and more difficult to use. Bad UI changes, Google!
That's nice.
Now I just have to get about a dozen other apps that I paid for to update to 64bit.
I might not be moving to iOS11 for quite a while. We'll see.
I like the new Google Earth. The 3D flyover is awesome. I've always enjoyed an occasional dive into Google Earth, mostly for amusement, and was disappointed when it appeared Google may have abandoned the App.
Loving the new look and hugely updated features! One feature I would love to see added, and I reckon could be easily implemented, is a news, time zone and weather feed like we used to have on Life With PlayStation's Live Channel... Live Channel was a news, time zone and weather feed, which provided users with information from Google News and The Weather Channel organized by city. The content included live camera feeds and cloud data, similar to Google Earth. Live Cameras was provided by earthTV and the Webcams.travel website. The application only supported a collection of major cities of the world, with limited coverage, but it was an enjoyable experience zipping round a rotatable globe from city to city on different continents and reading the latest local news. It was discontinued in 2012 to great general dismay and sadness when SETI@HOME closed down on PlayStation. I reckon it would be child's play for the Google Earth app to incorporate this feature in the new awesome update, and even surpass the Live Channel in coverage!. It would certainly have me firing up the app several times a day everyday. Go for it Google!