Google Earth's iPhone App Lets You Track and View Your Adventures
If you're an adventure seeker with a penchant for storytelling you'll be happy to hear that Google is giving you the visuals you need to illustrate your tales of bravery. In a blog post written by Google Earth Product Manager Peter Birch, the company has updated its iPhone application. While we've always been big fans of the Google Earth desktop version, the company released its iPhone app in 2008 with new attention to the mobile accelerometer and touch features of the iPhone. Users pinched, tapped and tilted their way to stunning satellite views of mountain ranges and far away terrain. The application update builds on these features but adds a touch of the personal.
Google Earth for iPhone now offers users a chance to view their customized maps in the iPhone app. Rather than just offering standard maps, users save their pre-existing maps or favorites in the "My Maps" folder and the files are automatically synced to the device.
One great feature of this release is the fact that users can track their travels via a GPS device and save the results as a KML file to be viewed in the application at a later time. The example given is a look at the route taken to climb a mountain; however, the same tool can be used to track marathons, sailing regatas, road trips and basic travel. For information on how to convert GPS data into Google Earth, users can visit Google's KML Support Section. If you haven't already downloaded the application, you can do so here.
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With Google Earth for iPhone and iPod touch, you can fly to far corners of the planet with just the swipe of a finger. Google’s announcement today includes an example from product manager Dan Birch using the new feature to track a pair of attempts to summit Mount Ritter, in which the combination of GPS, KML, and My Maps were used together to show the summit attempts on the Google Earth iPhone app. The Google Earth geographical software has been altered to make maximum use of the iPhone’s screen and functionality. You’re able to tilt the device to adjust your view when browsing mountainous terrain, use the ‘My Location’ feature to jump right to where you are in the blink of an eye, and use Google’s local search engine to look for information on cities, places and businesses. This features are cause why people are rushing to buy the latest gadget. And the reason why stock market are ruining out of stock with Google Earth's iPhone App.
Since I started 1.5 month ago, the apps Geocaching by Groundspeak and Motion Gps lite have done a good job. Especially Groundspeaks app, as it has the database and a “caches near me” funktion! Did 21 caches in 3 days with that one last weekend ;-)
This is made more fun with travel as you can use your GPS with more real maps.
Google Earth 2.0 is compatible with the iPhone and iPod Touch, and the new version has a range of new features, which include the ability to view maps that you create on your PC on your iPhone or iPod Touch.
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