Around the World in 8 Seconds

Google Earth is not a new technology; in fact, ever since Keyhole, Inc. created EarthViewer 3D in 2001, to be acquired by Google and renamed Google Earth in 2005, virtual globes have been making their way into the realm of sciences, popular culture, and education. So in almost ten years of new releases, updates, improved graphics and processors, one would imagine that the majority of what Google Earth can do and has done is limited to its current uses.

However, one who would say that would be incorrect.

Google Earth couldn’t be expanding any faster. Literally, Google Earth has gone to the Moon and back in the past five years since becoming open to the public (Really, just look at the Moon on Google Earth). Meteorology is being revolutionized with new methods of data representations by using virtual globes. Education is being improved, especially for geography lessons so students can better understand the world around them. Google Earth assists emergency response teams in planning air lifts and providing medical care, especially for natural disasters such as hurricanes and earthquakes. Since anybody can create KML’s, many people and organizations create these files for public use, including David Tryse whose KML’s track environmental changes, including deforestation and animal habitat destruction.

Google Earth leaves nothing to be unmapped or untracked, even the oceans and Mars. The future of Google Earth is unlimited in its possibilities, as its only limit is the limit of human thought and innovation.

See what Michael Jones, CTO of Google, Inc. has to say about the future of Google Earth here

There is even a book on The Future of Google Earth!