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Google Earth Pro - now free


user13371

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AlanDB, I don't think that would work. They've generally proceeded in the other direction, giving more and more stuff away. There used to also be a Google Earth "Plus" version that landed somewhere between the free and pro versions. When Plus went away its features were trolled into the free version. Now I'm not sure there is ANY difference left bet6ween the free and Pro version.

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AlanDB, I don't think that would work. They've generally proceeded in the other direction, giving more and more stuff away. There used to also be a Google Earth "Plus" version that landed somewhere between the free and pro versions. When Plus went away its features were trolled into the free version. Now I'm not sure there is ANY difference left bet6ween the free and Pro version.

 

Free version doesn't let you make videos.

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Mineral2, what I meant was there was no PRICE differentiation, so why even offer a free vs pro version.

 

Two thoughts:

 

1. This is temporary

 

2. It's permanent, but they haven't merged the two versions to not require a key for the pro features, yet they wanted to make it free at this time.

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It can be more convenient. For example, the standard 'free' version never allowed the drawing of circles, and that was nice for establishing proximity -- though there are other online tools for that as well now. Most of the other benefits of the thing in general are also related to measurement of one sort or another. The 'Ruler' tool includes lines, paths, polygons, circles, 3D path (when using elevated features or objects), and 3D polygon (measuring volume instead of just area). Most of that isn't relevant to caching, but I suppose the circle tool is the most useful -- for keeping outside that 528' limit.

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My gut feel is that Google Earth is trying to compete with ArcGISOnline, which is free.

 

Skye.

You sure? Last I looked, it was a free 30-day trial, but that they charged ever year. Hmmm... yup >>> http://www.arcgis.com/features/free-trial.html

ArcGISOnline is free, while ArcGIS you linked is for the desktop software for GIS users. You can try it Free for 30-days, then there would be an annual license fee. I believe that it is $100/yr for personal use- not for business use.

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My gut feel is that Google Earth is trying to compete with ArcGISOnline, which is free.

 

Skye.

You sure? Last I looked, it was a free 30-day trial, but that they charged ever year. Hmmm... yup >>> http://www.arcgis.co...free-trial.html

ArcGISOnline is free, while ArcGIS you linked is for the desktop software for GIS users. You can try it Free for 30-days, then there would be an annual license fee. I believe that it is $100/yr for personal use- not for business use.

Guess I could use a link. I was also familiar with the ESRI tool, but that's only a trial run as well. http://www.esri.com/software/arcgis/arcgisonline/evaluate Edited by ecanderson
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Does the Mac version offer two different rendering methods as does the Windows version? Can you get it open far enough to find out?

 

If the menu structure is similar, look at Tools / Options / Graphics Mode

 

I know that for some Windows systems, OpenGL is more stable than DirectX. Mac users may have similar issues of some sort.

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