A new Google Earth beta is now available for download. Most interesting new features (free version):

• Native WMS support (!)
• Support for timelines with the <TimeStamp> and <TimeSpan> KML tags, which now work
• New API controls for the network link: Language and client version
• UTM grid support
• The PC version gets support for joysticks and 3DConnexion Space devices

There are plenty more features listed in the release notes, below the fold.

Changes From Version 4.0.1693

—————————–

– Japanese Language Support

– Caching of 3D models (Collada) to improve performance

– Printing of driving directions and folders

– Login Error detection and resolution

– Time interface

– Toolbar support for multiple languages (downloaded after install)

– Folder editing for radio style and hidden children

– Improved Preferences Panel Layout

– WMS Support

– New desktop icons (high resolution on Mac)

– UTM Grid and coordinates (doesn’t include MGRS)

– Controller support: only limited number of devices on Windows only

– Tutorial moved from My Places to Help menu item

– Language pulldown menu now has native entries only

– Support for HDTV movies

– Fixed GIF images swapping red and blue channels

– Fixed several support page urls

Developer Notes:

– Time tags: &

– Icon palettes converted to individual images

– List view icon (distinct to 3D view)

Major Fixes:

– Making movies uses much less memory than previously

– Vertical bar anomaly to the left of the window at startup

– Fixed duplicate Earth buttons in toolbar

– Improvement to Mac performance on PowerPC machines

– numerous other fixes….

Changes From Version 4.0.1657

—————————–

– Fixed My Places file at startup not showing up for all users.

Your “My Places” pane should include a tutorial and a list of

placemarks to visit. If you’re upgrading from a previous version,

then you may be missing this file. You can open a saved copy of

the file from this location (PC only):

C:\Program Files\Google\Google Earth\lang\

– Fixed double-clicking file opening a second instance of earth.

Can occur for files, paths or usernames with non-ascii characters.

– Added support for 3Dconnexion navigation devices, including:

SpacePilot, SpaceTraveler, SpaceBall and SpaceMouse.

– Added Garmin Serial support for Mac

– Terrain Supersampling

– Fixed seaching in UK locale

– Fixed recognition of more than 4GB of memory

Changes From Version 4.0.1565

—————————–

– Language selection in client: Tools->Options then the “General” tab

– Restore missing Search/Places/Layers panes if the user chose to hide them version 3.0

– Scroll wheel now defaults to “zoom in” for “wheel up”. The setting can be

reversed in Tools->Options then the “Navigation” tab

– More reliable reading and writing of kmz files on systems with non-ascii

usernames

– Fixed imported terrain for SketchUp occasionally showing ‘divots’

– Client now remembers the checked status of all layers between restarts

– Improved memory management, client does not require as much memory

– Automatic setting of memory cache based on machine RAM, improves

performance and prevents flickering overlays

– Fixed warnings about Software Emulation and DirectX on Mac and PC systems

Developer Notes:

– Fixed tag operation

– Fixed deletion of local kmz file when linked to by network link

– Fixed style information being lost upon restart of client (for some styles

that were shared across a folder)

– Using on LineString coordinates now replaces all coordinates

rather than appends

– Fixed network link occasionally going into fast continuous refresh

New Features

————

General:

– embedded Navigator interface (top-right, overlaying the 3D view)

– Localized client to French, German, Italian, Spanish

– Textured 3D Model files can be loaded (Collada XML file format)

– Layers: new Core/All/”Now Enabled” views

– Full screen mode now allows searching (use F-11 on the PC)

– Press the ‘/’ key to access Search from full screen mode

– Scale Legend

– Full resolution imagery across entire screen

– Terrain quality preference setting

– Improved Garmin GPS device support

– Toolbar (replaces navigation panel previously shown below the 3dview)

– Diagonal arrow-key navigation (up arrow + left arrow simultaneously)

– Tristate checkboxes in Places/Layers folders

– Improved messages for login problems

– Redesigned properties dialog

– Region based loading, allows for “Streaming KML”(tm) layers

– Level of detail (LOD) control via KML

– Radio button folder items (available via KML only)

– Hidden folders, won’t uncollapse when item is selected (available via KML only)

– Network links respect on-expire headers

– mechanism via KML+NetworkLink

– Improved cut/paste of KML to/from text editor

– Menus have been reorganized with new names, locations and shortcuts

– Google Earth 4.0 has enabled http caching for network links, overlays, and

icons while Google Earth 3.1 and earlier does not. Consequently, 4.0

clients may fetch what appears to be stale files if the server does not

supply a max-age, expires or no-store cache control directive, see:

http://www.w3.org/Protocols/rfc2616/rfc2616-sec14.html).

To avoid this the problem servers should be reconfigured to supply the

appropriate directive. To correct a current problem, users can either

manually refresh network links or overlays using the right-click context

menu item “Refresh” or otherwise clear their Internet cache (OS dependant).

Windows: http://www.microsoft.com/windows/ie/ie6/using/howto/customizing/clearcache.mspx

Mac: ????????????????????

Linux: ????????????????????

Mac:

– new Plus and Pro versions

– SketchUp integration

– Universal Binary (PowerPC and Intel)

Linux:

– Native client!

– currently Google Earth Free only

Compatibility

————-

– Google Earth supports Windows 2000, Windows XP, Windows Server 2003, and

Windows XP-x64.

– Google Earth has been tested on Windows Vista(Beta 2 Build 5308) and is

supported (Beta 3 and above has not been tested). To complete the Google

Earth install process on Vista using a Standard User account, a Local

Administrator password must be used.

– Google Earth does not support Windows 95, Windows 98, Windows 98SE,

Windows ME or older operating systems.

– There are known issues with “Windows XP for tablet PCs” and

Windows XP Media Center.

– On Windows, Google Earth uses “Internet Options” (same as Internet Explorer),

so be sure your proxy/network settings are correct in the Internet Options

Control Panel.

– If you have having trouble connecting to Google Earth servers and your

machine has a software firewall such as:

McAfee Personal Firewall Plus (also in McAfee Internet Security Suite)

ZoneAlarm

Norton Personal Firewall

you may have inadvertently blocked Google Earth’s access to the internet.

Microsoft Windows XP service pack 2 doesn’t cause this problem. A common

symptom is Google Earth reporting lack of access and that it will instead

use the local cache. Please verify that GoogleEarth.exe is not explicitly

blocked and that access to “port 80” is available for non-browser

applications. You can typically find these settings by opening your

firewall or anti-virus software preferences:

McAfee Personal Firewall Plus (2005 ver 7.0)

1) Open Google Earth and try logging in

2) Open McAfee Personal Firewall Plus

Start -> All Programs -> McAfee -> McAfee Personal Firewall Plus

3) Click on “Internet Applications” in the left column

4) Scroll down and select the “Google Earth” entry

5) In the “Permissions” column it needs to say “Allow Full Access”

6) If it doesn’t say that, press the button on the bottom right that

says “Allow Full Access”, verify it’s changed using the last step

Zone Labs ZoneAlarm

1) Open Google Earth and try logging in

2) Open ZoneAlarm

Start -> All Programs -> Zone Labs -> Zone Labs Security

3) Click on the “Programs” tab on the right of the window

4) From the list that’s displayed, if Google Earth is not shown, click

the “Add” button on the bottom-right of the window. Navigate to:

C:\Program Files\Google\Google Earth\GoogleEarth.exe.

5) Select “Google Earth” from the list

6) In the “Access” column for Google Earth, look purple question

marks and red X’s for the “Trusted” and “Internet” sub-columns. Left

click and change them all to the green checkmark “Allow”

Norton Personal Firewall (2002 ver 4.0)

1) Open Google Earth and try logging in

2) Open Norton Personal Firewall

Start -> All Programs -> Norton Personal Firewall -> Norton Personal Firewall

3) On the left, click on the button “Personal Firewall”

4) From the new options, press the button “Internet Access Control”

5) From the new screen, if Google Earth is not in the list, press the

“Add” button that is near the bottom of the window. Navigate to:

C:\Program Files\Google\Google Earth\GoogleEarth.exe

(Press ok if it says “You are attempting to add an application

that already has rules.”)

6) Click “Permit this application access to the Internet” and then OK

– Proxies may also block the use of Google Earth. Make sure your proxy permits

access on port 80 to kh.google.com, geo.keyhole.com and auth.keyhole.com.

– A minimum screen size of 1024×768 pixels is required (it will run on lower

resolutions but functionality is limited). Also, “True Color (32-bit)”

resolution and a sufficient graphics card are required for clamped filled

polygons; otherwise, they will be displayed as outlines only.

– Many new graphics-intensive features have been added, so graphics card

compatibility is an issue. Be sure to update your graphics driver.

– The default OpenGL graphics rendering engine is the usually the best from

both a performance and visual quality perspective, though some machines may

need to use DirectX. See the “Graphics Card” section below for more info.

– The DirectX version of Google Earth can be selected via Tools->Options->

View->Graphics Mode. If there is a problem at startup, you can also

change it from the Start Menu item. Use it on older machines and laptop

computers that have trouble with the default OpenGL version.

– The DirectX version of Google Earth requires DirectX 8.1 or newer.

Microsoft’s current release is 9.0c. Installation details are here:

http://earth.google.com/support/bin/answer.py?answer=21468

– If you have a Quadro, FireGL, or other workstation card that has problems

with printing, movie making, or clamped filled polygons (flashing or

replicated on the screen), change one of the options in the advanced area

of your Display Properties and then restart the Google Earth client.

(eg: Control Panels->Display->settings->Advanced->3D for ATI)

a) For ATI FireGL, find the application configuration section

tab, and choose “3dsmax.” ATI will soon be adding a “Keyhole”

mode, so choose that if it is available.

b) For Quadro, select the “use unified back/depth buffer” check box.

– If the client crashes, it will create a ‘minidump’ file that can help

debug and fix the problem. It does not contain any personal information.

If the option is selected during installation, this is automatically sent to

Google. Regardless of whether you send it to Google, a copy is made on your

machine. The file names starts with “Google_Earth” and contains the version

number/type, the date/time and has a “.dmp” extension. It’s stored in your

temporary directory – to see the most recent crash, sort by ‘Date Modified’.

Directory: C:\Documents and Settings\%username%\Local Settings\Temp\

Example Name: Google_Earth_4.0.0xxx_060617-114650.dmp

Known Issues – All Platforms

—————————-

– Corrupted imagery when switching between 16 and 32 bit color

– There are some untranslated strings in the client

– For supported foreign languages and locales, if you have installed

version 3.0 of the client and upgrade, the installer may appear in

English language and install the Start Menu shortcuts in English.

Even if this happens, the client will still appear in the correct

native language.

– The edit dialog for models needs to add numerical control for scale

and rotation.

– Folder option for ‘regular’ or ‘radio’ style

– Automatic Keyboard Popup is not supported on the Tablet PC using Google

Earth. The user must manually activate the onscreen keyboard with these

devices.

– Google Earth may get “Could not load image” errors at startup on certain

machines. This causes an images on the bottom corners to display as a

‘broken image’ (this is normally the Google logo). This most commonly

occurs on accounts with non-ascii characters (e.g. ?). The rest of the

program will function correctly. This can also occur if you have upgraded

your hard drive format from FAT32 to NTFS. For this case there a workaround

is available (this will not work on accounts with non-ascii usernames). We

hope to fix this shortly.

http://earth.google.com/support/bin/answer.py?answer=29462

– Google Earth Free will not install on restricted domain account (restricted

local accounts work correctly). For more information see here:

http://earth.google.com/support/bin/answer.py?answer=29572

– Some people with GPS devices using USB are having trouble importing data.

COM->USB should work, but it depends on the quality of the adapter.

IOgear’s GUC232A does _not_ work, unfortunately. SiiG and Magellan

adapters seem to work well.

– Driving-directions/measure/lines do not draw with thickness in DX.

– A maximized window that is then full-screened will not return to maximized

when full-screen is exited.

– Drag-n-drop inside the Places window doesn’t scroll and doesn’t give much

visual feedback. You can use cut-paste to move items long distances in the

scroll.

– Interlaced PNG image files are not supported as overlays.

– Filled polygons don’t work on all cards.

– Occasionally image overlays may not be displayed in a consistent manner on

higher-end graphics cards (64MB VRAM and above). To correct it, try this:

1) Navigate to the Options dialog

PC: Tools -> Options, Mac: Google Earth -> Preferences

2) Select the Cache Tab

3) Increase the Memory Cache Size (continue trying this method until the

overlay displays consistently)

Known Issues – Windows Only

—————————

– When using a 3DConnexion controller, the Controller preferences (in the

Navigation tab of the Options window) will always be enabled, even when

the controller is not attached.

Known Issues – Mac Only

———————–

– When switching applications, the menu bar from the previous application

is occasionally shown. This is more common on slower machines. To correct

the menu bar, do the following:

1) Switch to the desktop (by clicking on it)

2) Switch back to Google Earth

– Performance may suffer on G3 and G4 machines and deteriorate slightly

the longer Google Earth is used. To help improve performance:

1) From the “Google Earth” menu, select “Preferences”

2) In the top left of the window in the “Detail Area”, select “Small”

3) Click “OK”

– Printing and saving images may have visual corruption. To try fixing this

please upgrade your graphics card drivers. For more information see here:

http://earth.google.com/support/bin/answer.py?answer=32349

– Some files from web sites may not be associated with Google Earth. This is

most common when the “.kml” or “.kmz” extension is not used (even if the

mime type is set correctly). To open the file, do the following:

1) If the file is from a web site, save it to the desktop.

2) Double click it.

3) Select “Choose Application”.

4) For the “Enable:” popdown, select “All Applications”.

5) Find Google Earth and select it.

NOTE: this may need to be repeated for each new extension.

– Opening Google Earth files while the window is minimized does not

bring the window out of the dock. Instead you must manually click on

icon in the dock.

– Balloons (information windows shown when you click on a placemark) show

up as white when printed. As a workaround, close them before printing.

– Balloons some times lose their contents (and appear white) when the focus

is changed to another application (also minimize/maximize) or a link is

clicked in them. To restore the contents, change focus back to Google

Earth or click on the placemark to show the balloon again.

– In the print dialog, Google Earth will crash if you select

“Save PDF As Postscript..” or “Save as PDF…” from the “PDF” popup menu.

As a workaround, press the “Preview” button and save a PDF from there.

– Some users have reported that Google Earth fails to start for them. Instead

they notice a bouncing icon in the dock but no window. Some users have reported

that the problem was fixed when upgrading to 10.4.4.

– It is not possible to access password protected content from inside Google

Earth. As a workaround you should load the file in Safari and add it to your

“Apple Keychain”. Now the file will load in Google Earth correctly.

– The client does not load legacy .eta files. You must convert them to a kml

file on the PC before transferring it to the Mac.

– When the app is minimized, it may still show the inner contents of a

balloon. To avoid this close the balloon before minimizing the application.

– Sometimes the resize icon in the bottom right corner of the window is inaccessible

because it is behind the dock. If this happens, press the green ‘maximize’

button in the top left of the window. You can now access the resize icon.

– The Mac client may not be as efficient as the PC version when repeatedly

retrieving remote files. The problem is the implementation of the

“If-Modified-Since” header. As a result, the client fetches a new copy

of the content even if it hasn’t changed since the last fetch. Fetches

will still work but they will generate more network traffic than expected.

– Google Earth currently supports most GPS devices from Garmin and

Magellan. You can try other devices, but they might not work correctly.

Only USB-based GPS devices are supported on the Macintosh. For a complete

list of supported devices, check here:

http://www.gpsbabel.org/readme.html

– Some Garmin GPS devices may cause the USB port it is plugged into

to stop responding. Restarting your computer will restore the

port’s operation. If you encounter this problem, you should

update your GPS’s firmware to the latest version by visiting

http://www.garmin.com/support/download.jsp. At this time, you

must use a Windows-based system to update the GPS firmware.

Known Issues – Mac OS X 10.3.9 Only

———————————–

– On 10.3.9 systems, Google Earth may not be shown at the front after using

the “F9” key and selection the application. Click on the Google Earth

window to give it focus.

– When GE Pro Mac saves over a .mov file in movie maker the first time it is

run, all menus except “Google Earth” are disabled after the movie

is created. The user must restart the application to use any disabled

menus. Only occurs with the first movie file created after

launch.

GPS – Support

————-

For more information about the GPS devices supported by Google Earth, see here:

http://earth.google.com/support/bin/answer.py?answer=29566

Some versions of Google Earth include the executable binary of

Robert Lipe’s GPSBabel program. That project has been developed

under the GNU Public License and any copies of it can only be

distributed if and only if they include a copy of the license.

The GPL license can be found in:

C:\Program Files\Google\Google Earth Plus\gpl.txt

(or similar directory if you custom installed the application)

GPSBabel source code can be found at http://www.gpsbabel.org/.

It’s a great program for GPS device input and file translations.

On the Macintosh, some Garmin GPS devices may cause the USB port it is

plugged into to stop responding. Restarting your Mac will restore the

port’s operation. If you encounter this problem, you should update

your GPS’s firmware to the latest version by visiting

http://www.garmin.com/support/download.jsp. At this time, you must

use a Windows-based system to update the GPS firmware.

Graphics Card/Driver Compatibility Notes

—————————————-

Typically, OpenGL has a better visual appearance due to standardized access

to features. If you can, use OpenGL. Typically, DirectX is more reliable

on older graphics cards and may be your only choice in some circumstances.

The ATI Omega drivers are not supported.

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

!ALWAYS update your graphics drivers!

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

For information on how to update your drivers, see here:

Windows:

http://earth.google.com/support/bin/answer.py?answer=21462

Mac:

http://earth.google.com/support/bin/answer.py?answer=33878

Graphics Card Compatibility – Windows Only

——————————————

Desktop machines can always have their drivers updated from the chip

provider’s website (nVidia, ATI, Intel, S3…), but laptop machines rely upon

the manufacturer of the laptop (Dell, Toshiba, HP, …) and how often

they choose to adopt/publish updates for their graphics drivers. Even big-name

manufacturers can be up to 1 year behind the updates from the chip provider.

If you notice this, complain to your manufacturer about it. Hopefully they

will increase the speed of their updates.

For Windows XP-64, you may need to install specific 64 bit versions of your

graphics card drivers. Please refer to the manufacturer website for these

versions.

Some cards may need to be switched to DirectX mode. This should happen

automatically but some cards need it to be done manually, particularly low

end ATI cards and low end S3 cards. What follows are instructions for manual

switching, overview of manufacturer compatibility and then information on

specific cards.

**Manual switching to DirectX or OpenGL**

Start->All Programs->Google Earth->Set Google Earth to DirectX Mode, or

Start->All Programs->Google Earth->Set Google Earth to OpenGL Mode

Graphics Card Manufacturer Summary:

ATI – for startup crashes switch manually to DirectX, notes for laptop FireGL below

Intel – some instability, see notes below

Matrox – generally better supported in DirectX (should automatically switch)

nVidia – generally works, should automatically switch if needed

S3 – should automatically switch to DirectX, manually switch if crash occurs

SiS – consistent problems, more compatible in DirectX

Trident – consistent problems, may be more compatible in DirectX

Detailed Graphics Card Compatibility:

ATI FireGL* cards

OpenGL – can have problems with movie/print/email-image when covered,

To work around this problem on ATI FireGL’s OpenGL, go to the properties

panel of the Display, choose settings–>advanced–>select the tab named

“OpenGL”, “graphics” or “configuration” and select the “Keyhole”

profile (which is available in the latest drivers). Filled polygon colors

may be incorrect.

DirectX – Even though DirectX doesn’t have the printing problem, OpenGL is

recommended after the workaround above. Also DX may stop displaying the

earth when removing or adding an external monitor, simply restart to fix.

http://www.ati.com/support/driver.html

ATI 340 IGP – driver 6.14.10.6422 or later

OpenGL – Doesn’t work.

DirectX – Works.

http://www.ati.com/support/driver.html (Motherboard driver section)

ATI Mobility Radeon – driver 6.14.10.6422

OpenGL – Crashes in 32 bit video, set your graphics to 16 bit

DirectX – ??

ATI Rage, Rage Pro

OpenGL – Doesn’t work.

DirectX – Doesn’t work.

http://www.ati.com/support/driver.html

ATI Rage128, Rage128Pro XPERT 2000

Driver: XP: 6.13.3279 or later, 2K: 5.13.01.3279 or later

WinME/Win98: 4.13.7192 or later

OpenGL – doesn’t work

DirectX – works (needs 32-bit True Color for emailing images, printing &

movie making). Text can appear as white rectangles – to fix reduce the

size of the Google Earth window or your screen resolution. Clamped, filled

polygons are shown as outline only. Shading on buildings is linear instead

of flat. Even with these problems, DX is recommended because of its’

greater performance.

http://www.ati.com/support/driver.html

ATI Radeon 7xxx – driver 6.14.10.6542 or later

OpenGL – Mostly works. Layer checkboxes may not appear in Navigate Panel or

operate correctly. The layers can be controlled from the Layers Panel

instead.

DirectX – Works.

http://www.ati.com/support/driver.html

ATI Radeon 8500+ – driver 6.14.10.6422 or later

OpenGL – Works.

DirectX – Works.

http://www.ati.com/support/driver.html

ATI Radeon Mobility 9000/9100 IGP

OpenGL & DirectX – problems reported with driver 6.14.10.6436: red lines and

polygons appearing all over the screen. First try updating to the latest

driver available from you notebook manufacturer. If that doesn’t work then

as a last resort, a customer has reported success with the omega drivers:

http://www.omegadrivers.net/

ATI Radeon 9700

OpenGL – Works.

DirectX – Occasional black patches when zoomed in – #6803.

ATI Radeon X800 – driver 6.14.10.6517

OpenGL – Works.

DirectX – Works.

(Try turning on anti-aliasing in the ATI control panel, YMMV)

http://www.ati.com/support/driver.html

Intel 810/815 – driver 6.13.01.3196 or later

OpenGL – Works except for 3D buildings and filled clamped polygons.

DirectX – on certain configurations, there are problems. Use OpenGL.

If you do use DirectX, you must switch to 16 bit color in order

to run, it will not run in 24-bit mode. Printing doesn’t work.

– Intel 810/815 with .3198 driver and Windows XP-SP2-RC2 running OpenGL

crashes. Don’t install XP-SP2 on a machine with this graphics card.

– Does not run in 24-bit video mode, change to 16 bit mode.

– Changing anisotropic settings can cause image corruption until restart.

– Fullscreen shows black patches and locks view until you switch back again.

810 driver – http://downloadfinder.intel.com/scripts-df/Product_Filter.asp?ProductID=798

815 driver – http://downloadfinder.intel.com/scripts-df/Product_Filter.asp?ProductID=797

Intel 830 – Not tested but probably similar to 810 above.

http://downloadfinder.intel.com/scripts-df/Product_Filter.asp?ProductID=669

Intel 82845/82855 – driver 6.14.10.3847 or later

OpenGL – Works.

DirectX – Works, crashes with fullscreen at large resolutions.

http://downloadfinder.intel.com/scripts-df/Detail_Desc.asp?agr=N&ProductID=757&DwnldID=7511

Intel 82865G – driver .3762

OpenGL – Works.

DirectX – Works, crashes with fullscreen at large resolutions.

http://downloadfinder.intel.com/scripts-df/Detail_Desc.asp?agr=N&ProductID=757&DwnldID=7511

Intel 82915G

OpenGL – Works.

DirectX – Works, crashes with fullscreen at large resolutions, in 16 bit

“thermal colours” appear in movie maker recordings. Clamped, filled

polygons do not display correctly.

http://downloadfinder.intel.com/scripts-df/Detail_Desc.asp?agr=N&ProductID=757&DwnldID=7511

Intel 82945G

OpenGL – Works.

DirectX – Clamped filled polygons show up corrupted, use OpenGL.

Matrox G400/G450

OpenGL – Doesn’t work, should automatically recommend DirectX.

DirectX – Works with latest Matrox driver update.

http://www.matrox.com/graphics/support/drivers/files/xp2k_596_004.cfm

Matrox G550

OpenGL – Doesn’t work, should automatically recommend DirectX.

DirectX – Works with latest Matrox driver update but polygons are disabled.

http://www.matrox.com/graphics/support/drivers/files/xp2k_596_004.cfm

Matrox Parhelia 128

OpenGL – Works but clamped, filled polygons do not display correctly.

DirectX – Works but clamped, filled polygons do not display correctly.

http://www.matrox.com/mga/support/drivers/latest/home.cfm

Matrox P750

OpenGL – Recommend DirectX.

DirectX – Clamped, filled polygons do not display correctly.

http://www.matrox.com/mga/support/drivers/files/xp2k_111_00_114_hf_whql.cfm

nVidia GeForce 440 Go

OpenGL – Clamped filled polygons not supported on the 6.13.10.2846 driver,

please report similar problems on other drivers.

DirectX – Works.

nVidia GeForce 1/2MX – driver .6177 (aka 6.1.7.7)

OpenGL – Works.

DirectX – Works.

http://www.nvidia.com/content/drivers/drivers.asp

nVidia TNT2 – driver .6177

OpenGL – Works.

DirectX – Works.

http://www.nvidia.com/content/drivers/drivers.asp

nVidia GeForce4 MX-400 (420/440) – driver .6177

OpenGL – Has problems with printing and movie making. Recommend using DirectX.

DirectX – Works.

http://www.nvidia.com/content/drivers/drivers.asp

nVidia GeForce* – driver .7184

OpenGL – Update driver to 71.84 to eliminate many printing problems.

DirectX – Works.

http://www.nvidia.com/content/drivers/drivers.asp

nVidia 6800 SLI – driver .7184

OpenGL – Works

DirectX – Only draws half of screen.

nVidia Quadro* cards – driver .6177

Setting hardware acceleration to a low setting may hang the app. Please run

it with maximum hardware acceleration.

OpenGL – May have problems with movie/print/email-image when covered,

select the “use unified back/depth buffer” check box in the Advanced

tab of the Display->Advanced->OpenGL options and then restart.

DirectX – Works.

http://www.nvidia.com/content/drivers/drivers.asp

S3 Savage MX

OpenGL – Crashes at startup, try manually switching to OpenGL.

DirectX – Not tested (please report information on this).

S3 Savage 2000

OpenGL – Crashes at startup, manually switch to DirectX, see note below.

DirectX – If it crashes, download driver 5.12.0001.9016, instructions:

http://earth.google.com/support/bin/answer.py?answer=25676

S3 Unichrome – driver .0074

OpenGL – Renders incorrectly… use DirectX.

DirectX – Works.

http://www.s3graphics.com/drivers.html

S3 Savage4

OpenGL – Reverts to software rendering.

DirectX – Works but clamped, filled polygons are not supported.

http://www.s3graphics.com/drivers/Legacy/8A22Savage4_395drv/395drv.html

S3 SuperSavage, ProSavage DDR – driver .0074

OpenGL – Renders incorrectly and/or crashes due to driver problems, must

use DirectX.

DirectX – Works. Some screen sizes may not be

able to go full-screen without getting “Apologies – Internal Error.” Try

reducing your screen size, Google Earth detail area, Google Earth pixel

depth to 16, and/or screen depth to 16). Email-view, copy-view, and print

will not work if your S3 Display depth is 16-bit, so you may have to decide

whether you want full screen or email-view because both is not possible.

http://www.s3graphics.com/drivers/Legacy/index.html

SiS 305

OpenGL – Recommend DirectX.

DirectX – Works but clamped, filled polygons are disabled.

http://www.sis.com/support/support_prodid.htm

SiS 315e – SiS UniVGA3 Graphic Driver (v3.60) – Released 2004-07-09

OpenGL – Works but may have problems displaying clamped, filled polygons and has occasional stability issues. Recommend DirectX.

DirectX – Works but clamped, filled polygons are disabled.

http://www.sis.com/support/support_prodid.htm (really easy for updating)

SiS 630 – 5.13.0001.2060 (older driver)

OpenGL – Reportedly causes severe rendering problems making it unusable. Recommend DirectX.

DirectX – Greater stability reported for version 5.12.0001.2060. Try this

IBM certified driver:

http://www-307.ibm.com/pc/support/site.wss/document.do?sitestyle=ibm&lndocid=MIGR-4M7HXE

On newer drivers (reported on version 5.13.0001.2060) client crashed and

locked up computer during extended use (30mins). Filled polygons are not supported.

http://www.sis.com/support/support_prodid.htm

SiS 650e – 6.14.0010.3710

OpenGL – Recommend DX.

DirectX – Works, problems rendering movies. Clamped Filled Polygons not displayed properly.

http://www.sis.com/support/support_prodid.htm

SiS 661 – 6.14.0010.3611

OpenGL – Recommend DX.

DirectX – Works, problems rendering movies. Clamped Filled Polygons not displayed properly.

http://www.sis.com/support/support_prodid.htm

SiS 741/760 – 6.14.0010.3740

OpenGL – Recommend DX.

DirectX – Works, problems rendering movies. Clamped Filled Polygons not displayed properly.

http://www.sis.com/support/support_prodid.htm

SiS Xabre 200/400 – 6.14.0001.3100

OpenGL – Recommend DX.

DirectX – Works, problems rendering movies. Clamped Filled Polygons not displayed properly.

http://www.sis.com/support/support_prodid.htm

3Dfx – VooDoo3/VooDoo4/VooDoo5

None of the tested VooDoo3-VooDoo5 cards are supported.

Trident Video Accelerator Blade 3D – 5.00.2471.0046

OpenGL – Reported as having green screens (problems with old driver).

DirectX – Reported as working (though card may still have problems).

DISCLAIMERS

===========

* The Address Search feature in Google Earth does not guarantee pinpoint

accuracy. The application relies on a geocoded database that attempts

to interpolate the location of an address. This interpolation is done by

taking the total number of addresses in a given “block” and assuming an

even distribution of the addresses along that block.

[For example, in the 800 block of Main Street there are ten addresses in

the database. The application assumes that the fifth address is located

at the half-way point of the 800 block.]

* The coordinates, elevations, distances, and measurements provided

by Google are approximations only. Google makes no

claims as to the accuracy of these measurements.

IN NO EVENT SHALL GOOGLE BE LIABLE TO YOU OR ANYONE ELSE FOR ANY

DIRECT, SPECIAL, INCIDENTAL, INDIRECT OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES OF

ANY KIND, OR ANY DAMAGES WHATSOEVER, INCLUDING WITHOUT LIMITATION,

LOSS OF PROFIT, LOSS OF USE, SAVINGS OR REVENUE, OR THE CLAIMS OF

THIRD PARTIES, WHETHER OR NOT GOOGLE HAS BEEN ADVISED OF THE

POSSIBILITY OF SUCH LOSS, HOWEVER CAUSED AND ON ANY THEORY OF

LIABILITY, ARISING OUT OF OR IN CONNECTION WITH THE POSSESSION OR

USE OF THE MEASUREMENTS PRODUCED BY THIS SOFTWARE.