Google Earth on iPhone rocks!

Alex Zaharov-Reutt
Monday, 27 October 2008 17:13

IT Industry - Market

All you need to do is to “swipe your finger across the screen and you fly to the other side of the globe; tilt your phone and your view tilts as well. You can pinch to zoom in or out, or just double tap with one finger to zoom in and two fingers to zoom out.”

The “tilt” feature is cool, but can be turned off it you don’t want it. As you lift the phone from a horizontal to a vertical position, you get to see into the horizon. Hold the iPhone above your head and you can see the sky.

This actually brings forth hope that Google might enable the “compass” view in the forthcoming Street View for iPhone OS 2.2, as the iPhone is clearly capable, but we’ll just have to wait until iPhone OS 2.2 launches to see if that happens, or remains a gPhone G1 Android exclusive, at least for now.

Google says it “integrated the My Location feature, so with a touch of a button, you can fly to where you are in the real world on your phone. In addition, we have over eight million Panoramio photos, which are geo-located photos of places, and you can view any and all of them from your iPhone.”

“All versions of Earth include search, and the iPhone version is no exception. You have access to the same great local search that you get with Google Maps, so you can search for places, businesses, and landmarks.”

“With Google Earth you get to the full detail page for businesses, so you can get reviews, photos, user content, business hours, and other useful information. We also added a "search near me" feature, so with one touch you can find businesses near your location, without having to navigate there first or type in the name of the city.”

To get Google Earth on your iPhone, visit the App Store in iTunes or your iPhone, and search for "Google Earth."

You’ll certainly have some fun playing with the app and showing it off to your friends, with any iPhone or iPod Touch user sure to race off to get their own free copy pronto.