SHOTS OF EARTH

Google Earth [1] brings hi-res aerial views of the whole Earth to your computer desktop. The latest full release, Google Earth 4, integrates satellite and aerial images with Wikipedia text [2], 3D models, and photos from Panoramio [3]. We tried out version 4 in Linux and found the journey quite pleasing – but if you ever decide to integrate your own 3D model, you may need Windows or MacOS.

On Screen

To run Google Earth in Linux, you need a desktop with working 3D acceleration. Apart from this, the software does not ask too much of your computer: a CPU with a clock speed of 500MHz and 128MB RAM are all it takes, although Google does recommend a 2.4 GHz CPU and 512MB RAM to avoid annoying screen refresh delays. Because Google Earth downloads the image data while you are using the tool, you also need a fast Internet connection. The box titled "Installation" tells you how to set up Google Earth on Linux.