Earth 4.3

Posted on April 16, 2008

There’s a new version of Google Earth (4.3) available which sports revised controls for navigation and some new product content like 3-D photo-realistic buildings in major cities and time-lapse views of sunsets and sunrises.

Also new in Google Earth 4.3 is access to the street view movies found in Google Maps. Just click any of the camera icons and the familiar street view window will pop up.

Although the controls are somewhat different, once you have the hang of it they offer more control over panning and tilting. Also handy is the new “North” button which quickly places your current view in perspective by rotating until north is at the top.

The sunrise and sunset movies are quite impressive as well. If you fly to a location you’d like to see and click the “sun” button in the toolbar, it will bring up a small timeline graphic and you can either hit play or drag the timeline slider to watch the day unfold.

Google Earth 4.3 is still in beta so expect changes along the way. You can get it from the site, or by using the Google Updater.