Google Earth vs Google Earth Pro
Google Earth and Google Earth pro are two versions of the Google Earth software, one meant for amateurs and the other is meant for professionals using it to make money. Google Earth as we know it today was an information program about earth, maps and geography that was developed by Keyhole Inc. The company was taken over by Google in 2004. The program makes use of images from satellites and aerial photography. Google offered it under three categories, Google Earth, which was free and had limited features, Google Earth Plus, which has been discontinued and Google Earth Pro which requires the buyer to pay $399 annually. It is only Google Earth Pro that can be used for commercial purposes.
Google Earth, since offered as a browser plugin has made the application very popular and there has been a 10 fold increase in its use making people take more and more interest in geography, particularly knowing about the topographic details of cities, houses and streets. Google Earth allows the users to see satellite images of earth’s surface giving them bird’s eye view of houses, streets and other structures in different cities. It is seen that some places have images that are sharp in resolution while some others are not so clear depending upon the popularity of the place and people taking interest in the place. However, most of the topography is available within 15 meters of resolution which often amazes people as they get to see their own city and street as if they are watching it from above sitting in an airplane.
By entering the coordinates of a place, it is possible to view the place easily on Google Earth. If you do not know the coordinates, you can simply view it by clicking your mouse to go close to the area. Many people use Google Earth to add their own location as part of the map.
Google Earth Pro is a much better version of Google Earth with added features such as better performance, sharper resolutions, ability to add polygons and paths, spreadsheet import capabilities, and above all, technical support from Google. All this, and much more is made available to the user when he pays a subscription of $399 per annum to Google.
Google Earth Pro is an upgraded version of Google Earth that is meant for business oriented people. It allows the users to make movies, radius and area measurements, advanced printing modules and GIS data importer. One major difference between Google Earth and Google Earth Pro lies in the fact the Pro does not work on Linux unlike Google Earth. Google earth pro is really beneficial to those who are in the business of real estate. It allows real estate companies to provide clients with all the location information using movie maker in Google Earth pro. It is also made use of by engineering companies to make map site plans using image overlay tool provided in Google earth pro.