Google Earth comes alive with its latest version

This latest version follows last June's Google Earth 5.2 and adds three major updates to the virtual geographical tool: Integrated Street View, 3D trees, and an improved historical imagery system.Anyone who has ever looked up his or her (or someone else's) house on Google Earth will know that it can only really get you so far. To get really close, you'll need to switch to Google Map's and enlist the help of Peg-man's Street View tool. However, that isn?t necessary in Google Earth 6 as it offers full and 'seamless' Street View' integration.?Unlike our earlier Street View layer, you can now move seamlessly from one location to another as if you?re walking down the street by using the scroll-wheel on your mouse or the arrow keys on your keyboard? says Peter Birch, Google product manager.Aside from Street View, the newest version integrates the up-close, photographic imagery of the original with the maps, satellite images and computerized renderings that characterize the birds-eye view.?When you fly to an area where historical imagery is available, the date of the oldest imagery will appear in the status bar at the bottom of the screen,? Birch added.?If you click on this date, you?ll instantly be taken back in time to view imagery from that time period.?Earlier, Google rendered buildings in 3D and filled in the big blue blank spot on its online replica of the Earth with three-dimensional oceans. But 6.0 also adds 3D trees to the landscape. Not satisfied by populating the virtual globe with the generic lollipop variety, Google Earth 6.0 actually includes highly detailed models for dozens of species of trees. They've already 'planted' 80 million trees in Athens, Berlin, Chicago, New York City, San Francisco and Tokyo.Possibly part of Google's running theme, Google Earth also includes an outreach program working with Africa's Green Belt Movement and Brazil's Amazon Conservation Team to model threatened forests around the globe.To sum up, Google Earth 6.0 as it is called is a beautiful, user-friendly site to help us gain better awareness of our neighborhoods and our planet.Who knows the next upgrade Google Earth may come up with is a map of the faces and stories of individuals eager to link up? Imagine a mapping system that meshes the properties of Google Earth Tours with the explosively expanding social networks.

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