Google Earth 5.2 Launched
Google launched the latest version of the Google Earth desktop application, Google Earth 5.2. This release has some pretty cool features for both the free version, Google Earth, and the paid professional version, Google Earth Pro.
Outdoor Activity Helper
With the release of Google Earth 5.0, the company added the ability to connect GPS devices directly to Google Earth and import a specific hiking or biking track, for example. However, with Google Earth 5.2, the company added the ability to view elevation, speed, and other data as a graph directly in Google Earth.
All users have to do is connect their GPS device to upload their track, and select “View Elevation Profile” from the menu. This will bring up elevation and speed graphs. If a user's GPS device records additional information such as heart rate or cadence, this will also be available to view in the graph. Users will also be able to see statistics such as total elevation, maximum slope, and average speed.
Other features include:
- The ability to play back a user's trip
- An embedded browser so users don't have to leave the Google Earth interface to see external links that relate to the map they are viewing.
- Parcel, demographic, and traffic data layers for the US
- Improved GIS importing
- Automatic generation of super-overlays for very large image files
- Automatic regioning of large point and vector data sets
- Support for MGRS grid system.
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