Google Earth, the three-dimensional counterpart to Google Maps, is now available as an application for Apple's iPhone. Like its desktop counterpart, the portable version of Google Earth calls on vast satellite information to draw detailed maps of the planet. Users can then navigate this 3D planet and visit thousands of landmarks.
Google Earth Project Manager Peter Birch said that he and his team started developing the original program in conjunction with a satellite imagery company called Keyhole that Google acquired.
"The idea of having Earth on a mobile device is something people dreamed of back to the Keyhole days and before," Birch said. "This is the first opportunity we've had to be able to deliver a great experience."
Tech writer Stephen Shankland of CNET News praised the new application's ease of use.
"What's most interesting to me, though, is that the iPhone's multitouch screen actually made using the application easier than the PC versions," he said. "Dragging a fingertip across the screen slides the view appropriately, of course. Two-finger pinch gestures not only zoom in and out, but also, by adding a little twirling rotary motion, steer the view's orientation in one direction or another."
The application's utility for the adult industry applies most directly to brick-and-mortar businesses, whose locations are instantly accessible through the app's search feature, which displays the locations of relevant results via easy-to-see red markers.
The Google Earth iPhone application is available at Download.com.
Free downloads of the original version of Google Earth are available for Windows and Mac.