Google Earth: Officially All Over the Map

(Google Earth can provide these distance figures in English or metric measurements, as well as "smoots." Smoots? A search on Google -- where else? -- revealed that the term refers to an MIT undergrad who allowed his fellow students to measure the length of the Harvard Bridge by rolling him across it, head over heels, in October 1958).

You can add "placemarks" for any interesting spots you find, then share them with other Google Earth users via an online bulletin board ( http://bbs.keyhole.com/ ). This ought to be directly integrated with Google Earth, instead of requiring you to save a placemark as a separate file, then switch to your Web browser to attach that file to a posting in that bulletin board.

It should then show up under the "Keyhole BBS" category in Google Earth's Layers menu, but the program neglects to explain (as a Google publicist did) that it takes about two weeks for that to happen.

Despite those roadblocks, users of Google Earth and the earlier Keyhole program have accumulated a massive library of shared placemarks that span a wide range of geo-trivia. One individual, for example, has assembled a set of placemarks that point to historic lighthouses; another is mapping the locations of publicly accessible webcams.

As a company, Google is inordinately fond of labeling perfectly functional products "beta" -- its Gmail service has now been in beta for more than 14 months -- but in Google Earth's case, the term is justified.

In a week of near-incessant use, this program has exhibited its share of graphical glitches. Its interface lacks the clean, refined look of Google's other Web sites and software -- in particular, its jargon-riddled Options window. Too many of its features are explained poorly or not at all. For a day last week, Google stopped offering downloads of this program.

Many older Windows computers may not be able to run Google Earth at all, owing to the demands it places on a machine's graphics circuitry. It won't run on a Mac at all, but Google says it's working on a Mac version.

And yet this free program is still one of the most useful free downloads I've seen in a while. It -- and a $20 version that adds drawing tools, higher-resolution images and support for Global Positioning System receivers -- should make other mapping-software competitors nervous.

Living with technology, or trying to? E-mail Rob Pegoraro atrob@twp.com.