Google Earth 6.2 gets smooth tiles, social sharing

Google Earth is a huge database of satellite photos and 3d polygonal models, and if you have used it before, you may have noticed that each tile (section of satellite/aerial photo) may have different colors/tones. That is due to the fact that satellite photos are not taken in the same lighting conditions, at the same time of the day and in the same weather conditions.With Google Earth 6.2, Google has made the tiles look consistent, and this makes the “immersion” aspect of Google Earth that much better, especially for high-altitude photos. While Google doesn’t say much about how it did it, it is fair to *guess* that they came up with an automated way to choose the right time of the day, analyze tiles, and finally filter them to make them seamless. Google can also blend in high-altitude photos that covers large areas, with lower altitude ones to “unify” the colors. As you get closer to a place, the additional detail makes it harder to keep the colors consistent.

Additionally, Google has added sharing options for Google Earth, and that includes email, and of course… Google+ (follow ubergizmo). At the moment, you can forget about sharing over Facebook as Google uses every possible service to leverage its position in the heated social networking race. Overall, I would say that this is an excellent update to an already popular product. I hope that they will be working on the lighting and shadowing of the polygonal models next. Download Google Earth 6.2 link