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August 22, 2008
iPhone Earth App Available Now
[UPDATE 27 October 2008: If you're looking for the official Google Earth for the iPhone app story - which was released 26th of October, read this post. The post below was another iPhone app that looked like Google Earth, but was published by Earthscape in August.]
Last May I published a video demonstration of a cool iPhone application I saw at Where 2.0 which looked like Google Earth. The video demo was such a huge hit, Earthscape - the company who made it - quickly made it into a product you can now buy at the Apple store (available for $10). I purchased the app a couple of days ago and have just now had time to make a new video demo:
A couple of things to note: Earthscape has a 3D terrain model for the Earth, and they have high resolution satellite or aerial photos for some areas - especially in the US. But, you won't find as much high res data as Google Earth. They have included a "Wikipedia" layer which includes placemarks to places from Wikipedia which when clicked on provide a summary of the related site. In the earlier demo I saw last May, they had the ability to use the iPhone accelerometer to tilt and rotate. But, the released app doesn't include that feature. Tom Churchill, CEO of Earthscape, told me they found the UI was confusing to some people. But, they hope to put the feature in an update to the app in the future. Given the limited utility at this time (no KML support yet, no search capability, and no accelerometer support), I'm not sure how many people will buy it for $10. But, it is a cool app to see on the iPhone. I hope it inspires Google to port a version of Google Earth to the iPhone (if they haven't already been working on it for months).
Here is Earthscape's video demo of the new application.
Posted by FrankTaylor at August 22, 2008 10:15 AM
Comments
Posted by: Visarga at August 22, 2008 4:06 PM
and google needs to port the GE plugin for safari!!!
Posted by: smokeonit at August 22, 2008 4:51 PM
Does Earthscape support KML?
Posted by: gulfstreme at August 23, 2008 11:49 PM
Google Earth for the iPhone doesn't work for me. It bombs out every time.
Posted by: Tim at November 3, 2008 7:13 PM
I cannot download the iPhone Earth app because of my country not being supported right now. I'm ok with that, but why the discrimination? I'd like to know the reason, that's all.
Posted by: SaCH at November 3, 2008 9:47 PM
Yes I want to know why a lot of iPhone apps like google earth cannot be downloaded because my country is not being supported. I'm from the Philippines. This is blatant discrimmination and being racist. A very bad side of Apple.
Posted by: Jojo at November 20, 2008 4:31 AM
Hi. I'm also looking foward to use Google Earth (and others apps) but I can't due to they are not available here in Brazil.
Posted by: Eric at January 8, 2009 8:17 PM
Romania - is still not in the list of countries with road maps. Do you have any planes , regarding this???
And where are all this Romanians working for Google...little national ... you forget where all started ....
Posted by: Richard Kiss at May 6, 2009 8:15 AM
I agree with the comments about discrimination for countries where we cannot download Google Earth or other applications. Why?? Is there a rational reason ?
Posted by: Juan Zorrilla at May 8, 2009 9:43 PM
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Hi,
I am a great fan of Google Earth and Maps. Unfortunately, after years of waiting (and the service not being a Beta) my country - Romania - is still not in the list of countries with road maps.
We are an European (even E.U.) country. The Romanian wikipedia is one between the first batch, with over 100K articles - and, as a nation that is very much online, we wonder - why would you treat us like we fell off the edge of the earth (Google Earth, that is)?
Yahoo Maps has Bucharest. Google Maps can't be bothered. I am so disappointed!
Google used to have a nice relationship to Romania. You have supported our language filter almost since the beginning. You even added Romanian to the translate service. Why is the maps service lagging? I am sure there are Romanians working at Google, it is not like no one remembers we exist.
I hope you will catch up, because the Google Earth idea is so profoundly seminal.