Archive notice: This article was originally published on February 4, 2015. Links and embedded videos are preserved as part of the historical record.
Google Earth Pro Features
Google Earth Pro contains all the map data and functions already familiar from the free Google Earth. Beyond that, however, Pro also offers advanced measuring and drawing tools that can be used to plan and visualise new locations and buildings directly in a 3D view.
Additional coloured layers make it possible to view demographic, parcel and traffic data. Google Pro also supports various image file formats and CSV tables, which can be imported into the tool and displayed using key criteria. The ESRI Shape format for geodata, the TAB file format of the MapInfo geographic information system (GIS) software, or the "Keyhole Markup" markup language for describing geodata can also be used to create a thematic map.
With the "Map Marker" tool in the Pro version, users are able to create maps including legends, HTML code, directional arrows, scales and titles and then save them as a PDF or image. Microsoft’s Movie Maker is also integrated, allowing images from the 3D viewer to be recorded in real time and a video of the visualisation to be created for customers or colleagues.
Further features of Google Earth Pro include the possibility of regionalising large data sets, batch input of geocoded addresses and the import function for GIS data and images.
Download
Here you can register for a Pro licence, after which you will receive a product key that you must enter after installing Google Earth Pro in order to use the software not just for seven test days, but to unlock it permanently.
Previously, the Pro version of Google Earth cost 400 US dollars per year. The current version is release 7.1, which is supported by Windows from XP onwards and Mac OSX from 10.6.
Here is a Google Hangout about the release of the current version, which shows the features, among other things:
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