Google Earth

Google Earth differs from the other Google geotools in that it is downloaded onto your computer and houses your data on your computer rather than in the cloud. It is a powerful tool for immersive experiences, and can be used to create tours that include street view, 3D buildings, content that you add as image overlays, SketchUp models, text, lines and boundaries, placemarks and maps. You can add photos and video to the map icon balloons and create custom styling. You can even record narrated tours using Google Earth Pro. The Pro version also allows you to import GIS SHP files from ArcMap and CSV files (spreadsheets).

With Google Earth you create your own content which is housed on your computer, but you access satellite imagery that is housed in the cloud and called down as tiles for each zoom level and viewport. This means that your data is locally hosted and private, although the imagery for the basemap is called down from the Google servers so you need to be online to use it; it is possible, however, to set up Google Earth with limited functionality to work offline if there is no internet access at your site.

Google Earth is external to your browser (it does not open in a browser like Chrome, Firefox, Explorer or Safari, but rather, it works on its own). If you wish to embed a map or tour produced in Google Earth into your website, you can either download the KML file from Google Earth and use it to create a map using MyMaps or Maps Engine, or you can create a video of the tour and use either YouTube or a hosting service like Google Drive to embed the video in your website (see simple example below).