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Google Earth Pro Now Free?

gearthblog.com

92 pointschippy20 comments

I love Google Earth, but it hasn't been updated since 2013. The Mac binary isn't signed so it doesn't even run on modern OSX[1].

Has Google abandoned Google Earth?

[1] Unless you know how to work around that, which the average user doesn't.

They seem to have abandoned separate but similarly named Google Earth Engine also...

I wonder what's next.

It's a shame they haven't updated it, but I guess the WebGL-based "earth" now in Maps is the replacement.

(As an aside, I find the code-signing in OSX to be pretty crooked -- charging $100/year just to allow people with default settings to run your executables seems pretty sketchy. If it really was about security, I would expect at most a one-time fee, with Apple reserving the right to revoke your key if your programs contain malware.)

Security is a part of it, but the fee also gets you 2 incident tickets with Apple engineers (way more that a forum chat - they'll look at code and debug) and a reasonably decent distribution infrastructure (their Mac App Store).

I say none of that to justify the overall notion of a paid developer program, but it's wrong to characterise it as just security signing.

Although, now that I think about it, I do pay yearly for certificates for my website - although not $99 :)

Back when compilers cost money, I had no problem as a $40K/year programmer paying >$200 for the latest edition annually.

It really is about security. You have to ID yourself to get in. If you write malware, Apple has a kill switch they can enable to kill all your apps everywhere, and law enforcement has at least the start of a trail to follow.

I really want Windows to switch to this model! I cringe every time I download an unsigned installer. Even Free Software (Free as in Freedom) developers manage to pay for a cert.

I don't understand why a Microsoft-compatible code signing cert costs around $200/year. I'd be completely in favor of a one-time identity verification fee, or maybe even $100 for a five year cert if you want to make sure everything stays current.

But the current structure makes zero sense.

Not always true - some companies will give CV certs to OSS projects.

> Back when compilers cost money, I had no problem as a $40K/year programmer paying >$200 for the latest edition annually.

But a compiler generally received improvements from each of those updates.

A certificate does not; in fact it's quite the opposite, paying an annual fee merely prevents the certificate from being disabled.

Google Earth 8 for Android was released only 3 months ago, and it's also the first in the Earth 8 line.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Google_Earth#Android_version

Official announcement http://google-latlong.blogspot.co.uk/2015/01/google-earth-pr...

Isn't this what CNN etc are using on a daily basis? This is now abandonware?

I love using the built-in flight sim (flying over mountains and pausing to check out Panoramio photos is cool) but I was surprised to find how old the binary is. Hope they don't completely drop it. :-(

For something similar check out Outerra. Only the paid version has vehicles, but it is really nice, especially in VR.

Google Earth and Maps seem to be running into each other's domains. What Google should do is update Google Earth and rebrand it as Maps or vice verse and merge the two.

Google Earth Pro features: https://support.google.com/earth/answer/189188?hl=en

available only for windows/mac

Note that, at the bottom of that page, it is clearly stated that Earth pro is free for both personal and business use.

GE is available for Linux too - but I don't know if the Pro version has additional features from Windows/Mac

Nice. I just installed GE a couple weeks ago to explore a piece of land I was interested in but had to eyeball the boundaries. Pro has parcel data which is what I'd wanted.

Does anyone else see this a move to try and get people "hooked on" Google Earth over other more open options (such as TopOSM)?

No, not at all. They don't seem to be actively pushing Earth and seem to be pushing aspects of it in Maps instead. It doesn't look like a heavy push to "hook" people on Earth.

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