Earth

Explore the Earth with Google’s VR Solution

We all love Google Earth right?

It’s an amazing way to plan your trips, check out the distance between locations, and even spy on your own home from a satellite image. There are even random generators on the web so you can visit anywhere in the world at the touch of a button with Google’s help.

So, what would you say if you discovered you could now use Google Earth in VR mode? Introduced in 2017, as part of a slew of VR app updates from the likes of Google, Apple, and other major brands, Google Earth VR takes you wherever you want to go in seconds, giving you the freedom to explore all kinds of unique places with your VR headset.

Growing increasingly impressive over the years, Google Earth VR is available from the Oculus store, and is totally free to use. You can explore the world however you like, strolling through the streets of London, or flying over the Alps. Let’s take a closer look.

Google Earth VR Review: Features

At first glance, Google Earth VR is a pretty simple application. The solution builds on the existing Google Earth technology you’re probably already familiar with. As you may know, Google has access to millions of pictures across the globe. Google has visited just about everywhere with its strategy of sending 360-degree cameras around the world to capture helpful mapping images.

With Google Earth, you can take advantage of these images to get an idea of what a specific location looks like, by tapping on the “Street View” option in Google maps. Google Earth VR just takes that concept another step further. Once you’ve downloaded the app from your preferred VR app store, you can tap on a location anywhere in the world and be magically transported to the spot.

Instead of using your cursor or finger to drag your way around a street or through a field like you would with basic Google Earth, Google Earth VR allows you to actually move around the space. You can duck down in your VR headset to get closer to the ground or lift your controllers up to soar through the air above buildings and hills. Features include:

• Global map access
• 360-degree views of locations around the globe
• Quick access to global landmarks
• Support for most major VR headsets
• Walk, or fly through a space
• Access locations with Google assistant
• Free to download app

The mechanics of Google Earth VR are straightforward, too, so you shouldn’t have to spend forever figuring out how the tech works. Pressing the trackpad will allow you to zoom across the surface of your location. You can also move the controllers to pinpoint where you want to visit next. Although you can easily search for a location, you can also grab hold of the earth with your controllers and spin around to find where you want to go. Alternatively, you can rotate the earth to day and night time too.

Google Earth VR Review: Benefits

Originally, Google Earth VR gave people an interesting way to explore the world if they were lucky enough to own a VR headset. These days, it’s become a useful tool, particularly in the travel and tourism sector, for people looking for an insight into what certain parts of the world might look like. We can imagine quite a few people started using Google Earth VR more often during the pandemic, when we could only dream of what other parts of the planet might look like.

The technology behind Google Earth could pave the way for future flight simulators, or apps for real-estate developers, to give them a way to plan out the development of a structure. Right now, it’s mostly just a fun way to see the planet from another perspective. Some of the best benefits of Google Earth VR include:

• Great controls: Searching for a location is simple enough with Google Earth VR, but the ability to spin the earth around at will and accelerate down streets is truly fantastic. You can fly around the globe, exploring streets in real-time, as though you really are there in person. It’s a wonderfully immersive way to explore.
• Easy to use: Although it can take a little while for some locations to load, and certain graphics can appear a bit blocky at times, the overall experience is pretty simple. Once you get used to it, you’ll have no problem zooming into specific parts of the planet. Clicking on a specific location will usually leave you hovering above the ground at first, but you can look down and use your VR controller to get back to earth.
• Plenty of unique experiences: you can grab the sky at will and twist it to move from day to night if you want to see what a location is like at different times of day. There’s also the option to bring up a mini version of the globe at any point if you want help to find the location you want to visit next. You can even soar into space if you really want to – though there’s not much to offer in terms of street view there.

As you might imagine from an app trying to load real-time images of the earth as you walk down the street, some parts of the Google Earth VR experience are a little clunky. However, if you’re willing to be patient, the environments are stunning.

Google Earth VR Review: Verdict

Google Earth VR is a wonderful tool for those who want to experiment with what’s truly possible in the virtual world. You probably wouldn’t choose it as an alternative to actually flying somewhere on vacation, but Google Earth VR has a lot of potential. We can definitely see it becoming a more attractive way for many companies to start offering things like try-before-you-buy trips in the travel and tourism sector.

You could even use Google Earth VR as a real-estate company, to take a buyer on a trip to their new neighbourhood before they move cities or countries. Overall, we can’t wait to see what Google does with this asset next.

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