Earth Day is coming up this weekend, and to celebrate, Google Earth received a major update today to version 9. This version is again designed to run in a Web browser (just Chrome for now), but there’s now a standalone home for Google Earth at earth.google.com/web. The Android app has been updated, too (iOS is coming soon).
Version 9 puts a big focus on guided tours via the “Voyager” section, which serves as a jumping off point for YouTube videos, 360° content, Street View, and Google Earth landmarks. The tours are led by scientists and documentarians, with some content produced by well-known groups like the BBC’s Planet Earth team. For kids, there’s a Sesame Street muppet section. Engadget reports that this curated content section will be continually updated. Currently, there are about 40 stories.
The desktop app, Google Earth Pro, is still stuck on version 7 and has a ton of measurement and recording features that aren’t present in the Web browser version
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