Google Earth 4 Beta is up to version 4.0.2416 on the PC and 4.0.2413 on the Mac. Polygon tools, previously available with the Plus upgrade ($20) are now free. Likely the most exploited new feature will be the ability to give overlays an altitude — good for floor plans and cloud layers. For KML developers there are better debugging options, while the PC version’s COM API can now control the timeline, touring and searching. (There are no additions to the Mac version’s AppleScript library.) There are plenty of further tweaks and incremental improvements, listed in the changelog provided by the Google Earth team, below the fold.

[Update 10:21 UTC: Turning on all the bells and whistles on the Mac in this version no longer leads my copy to insta-crash, so give this beta a go if you’re still at version 3.]

Changes From Version 4.0.2091

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– Polygon and line creation available in Free version

– Greatly improved printing of driving directions and folders

– New placemark icon that better indicates location. Expanded icon palette

– Separation of placemarks in the same location when clicked

– Ground overlays can be drawn at altitude (e.g. floor plans for multiple stories)

– Places icon for polygons and lines now matches geometry

– Pro premium features now included in Pro at no extra charge

– Increased limits for manually entered navigation options (e.g. speed)

– DXTC texture compression for models and ground overlays (adjustable in Tools->Options)

– Incremental loading of jpg textures in collada files

– Site wide install (using silent install)

– SketchUp models more closely match brightness of same models as they appear in SketchUp

– Japanese GUI font changed to “MS UI Gothic” for legibility

– Support for Magellan Explorist GPS devices

Developer Notes:

– KML: ground overlays can now have altitude

– KML: icons can have hotspots off center (e.g. placemark icon points at exact location)

– KML: debugging feedback option (Tools->Options menu in “general” tab)

– COM: point on terrain code now returns flag indicating no terrain intersection

– COM: support for time, touring, initiating searches and getting Windows HWND handle

Major Fixes:

– Fixed hyperlinks from Places pane and in balloons

– Fixed colliding collada textures names in kmz files

– Fixed failed load of non-ascii textures pathnames in saved collada files

– Fixed https connections