The desktop edition is powered by your video card directly. The other is abstracted through a lengthy web of Flash code. Google earth on your desktop will always be more powerful.
Since there is a version for Linux, Mac and Windows, you also don’t get any more users on a webpage than off.
If they shelf the product, then I think it would be a loss for everybody. Many companies have overlapping products so I doubt that will happen.

It is a catchy headline though. I panicked just reading it.

Google is obviously trying to do their part in making the web the place we “run” software, so what you say makes sense.

However, as Chris R. pointed out, there are certain things for which the desktop still has a huge advantage versus what a web app can deliver. The difference here I think is that I think most people use Google Earth as a toy, not a service, while Google Maps, despite you can also have fun with it, is more of a tool: find directions, businesses, restaurants, etc. so it makes sense they beef it up.

You miss the obvious point that Google Earth has a paid version with GPS support.

Until I see Google maps + Google gears (for offline access) + GPS Support… I doubt there’s going to be any disappearance of Google Earth.

I can certainly see Google building all the elements of Earth into Maps, but they provide different uses, for now at least.

With cloud computing they can do much of the hard lifting server side so yes, your analysis was spot on.

There is no way on earth that Google will ever consider abandoning their Google Earth Platform, not whilst Microsoft is fully hands on in beefing up their own Microsoft Virtual Earth Platform.

Of course Google Maps will become more of a revenue earner for Google, especially for Sponsored Ad Links and Mobile Web Services. But for a fuller picture of the whole Google Earth and Maps experience, people will still support and run Google Earth on their Desktop PC.

I still believe that an Earth Platform would run much better if it was developed as an online gaming Earth Platform, instead of like the current Earth Software Download versions.

As RBA mentioned that a lot of people use Google Earth simply as a toy, but could you imagine if Google had developed an Earth Platform that could be used just like a game. Now that would be social networking service that could be bigger than Facebook and MySpace combined.

Duncan, what’s with your posts like

etrade heading towards the deadpool,

Google earth extinction…

I find that your info somewhat distorted

Maps navigation is still 2D. Google Earth gives an immersive 3D experience. Many love it. So no need to worry.

The 3-D view is very neat.

Google Earth is a lot more powerful than Google Maps. Yes, Google Maps semi-includes some of Google Earth’s features, but even if it shows a terrain-layer now, Google Earth is far from heading towards extinction.

Google Earth allows “real” 3-dimensional “flying”, rather than this pseudo-3-dimensional terrain layer on Google Maps. Google Earth has way more powerful caching capabilities. Google Earth even has a flight simulator now.
Yes, technically it would probably be possible to do everything online what Google Earth does offline, I agree on this one. But not in a convenient way any more.

Google Maps will continue to borrow features from Google Earth, but it won’t replace it anytime soon.

And, to conclude:
Google Earth and Google Maps have very different goals. Google Maps is Google’s local search engine, whereas Google Earth is a toy that should increase Google Toolbar installations. Nobody opens Google Earth for a quick local search, but nobody will “cruise” around the world on Google Maps just for fun, too.

You need to look at the bigger picture. Why Google Earth was appealing in the first place? Because it was very easy to use, much like a game and provided a natural medium to browse the world. There are different tools for different purposes. Google Maps in a bowser can never be as capable as a standalone application. The reason is simple. Graphics industry is all about performance. A web browser is not made for it. A dedicated application can be tailored in many ways to take advantage of your graphics card. We can already see easily that the next enhancements we want street level 3D photos, even real-time data embedded into the Google Earth (will be fun to see that car moving!). We can get the same feeling as actually travelling there (a bonus for global warming to reduce our flights).

Hence, although you may think that Google Maps is becoming more powerful, that hasn’t got anything to do with Google Earth dying out. A dynamic environment based on reality, with realistic graphics, provides so many opportunities. Many were mentioned in the above comments such social networking, games, even fields such as virtual robotics and simulations can benefit from these tools.

So, no, Google Earth is not going away. It will be silly if it goes, and if it does something else will take its position. Google is smarter than that …

Not an appropriate comparison at all. Google Earth is a client side app for a reason, has a completely different user experience and is used for different activities. Can they share technologies? Sure, that’s the sensible thing to do.

As someone above alluded to, I think Earth’s future is as a completely immersive environment, perhaps even in the form of a virtual world which we can negotiate, and that, at least in the near future, will always need to be client side, since you need the power of the graphics card.

I was hoping that this article would address why Google uses maps that are 5 to 10 years out of date. There have be major changes in the land around where I live (in the US), done in 1999-2001. I have yet to see these updates shown on Google Earth or Maps. As a result, I don’t have a lot of confidence in this app. Confidence in a service, or lack thereof, will kill Google’s mapping app.

It’s an old Fox News trick.

You can say just about anything you want to in your headlines as long as you use a question mark. (?)

For instance, here are some valid headlines that anyone could write…

“TechCrunch Heading Towards Another Lawsuit?”
“TechCrunch Distorting Business Models of Web 2.0 Companies?
“TechCrunch Headlines Engineered for Controversy?”
“Do TechCrunch Editors Get Grammar and Spelling?”
“TechCrunch and Facebook to Create FaceCrunch?
“TechCrunch Posting Without Any Facts or Research?”

See? It’s easy. Anyone can do it.

“… but Google isn’t a software company”

What? Are you kidding?

Duncan, Duncan, Duncan, please…

EPA has some new KMZ files to observe environmental data using Google Earth. Check it out here:
http://epa.gov/airmarkets/prog.....pping.html

haha funny TC has lost it’s glory days! Oops.

@4: Most of the heavy lifting for an application like Google Earth is required on the client-side for video-card acceleration. Cloud computing would not help here — rendering polygons and textures is an operation that must occur on client hardware, it’s not something you can pass of to the server to take care of for you.

Google Earth is rendered in real-time, Google Maps is not. Unless Google moves off Ajax, or until the browser starts supporting accelerated canvas elements, Google Maps will not be technologically capable of doing what Earth can do.

They’re not going to do away with Earth any time soon, in other words.

Yet another argument for having a filter on the TechCrunch RSS feed to exclude posts by its junior staff. MA - take control and do some editing, please…

@Tonto: Excellent point. It’s right up there with the “single word in quotes” trick - you state the majority of the headline as fact, because the public like certainty, but enclose a single word in quotes to indicate that it’s the opinion of someone outside the newspaper, to avoid litigation and accusations of bias.

In this way, ‘Man alleged to have raped school of tuna’ becomes ‘Man “raped” school of tuna’. A mere four tiny lines separate the story you want to report (man rapes school of tuna) from the inconvenient reality (man is innocent of doing any such thing until convicted in court of law). Hence:

‘TechCrunch reporting standards “loose”‘
‘Reporter files “inaccurate” story on TechCrunch’
‘Duncan Riley “eats” entire cake before writing every one of his stories’

Etc.

In case anyone would actually like a Michael Arrington-only Tech Crunch, I created a simple Yahoo Pipe here: http://pipes.yahoo.com/austegard/tcma

I saw a presentation where Google execs boast how Google Earth is the largest interactive entertainment platform with hundreds of millions of users - far beyond any game system and larger than most countries.

Google Earth + user generated 3D content provided by SketchUp allows Google to create the worlds biggest immersive content and information source. Today we search and browse mostly through text and 2D pictures, but tomorrow we “fly through” the virtual world and experience content and information.

Want to learn about famous works of art - launch Google Earth, fly to the Louvre and see and learn about them.

What Google Earth needs is to push the envelope and use the client-side processing to improve the experience - it’s just OK realism today, but it could use better 3D graphics techniques - realistic shadows, reflections, global illumination.

Duncan, your stuff is good. But, please consider using “while” instead of “whilst” - http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/whilst

#17 @Raj hits the nail on the head. The key is real-time vs. render-on-mouse-event as well as 3D vs. 2D, and the significant complexity added when you can fly freely vs. simply slide 2D image tiles around.

In fact, Keyhole/Google Earth would have been rendered in-browser from day one if browsers had true real-time graphics and a way to support the sophisticated data management scheme GE requires. They still don’t, not even in Flash. As CPUs and browsers become more powerful, the features of the two applications will merge, as I’m sure was the plan all along.

But since browser evolution has been so excruciatingly slow, I think it’s far more likely that we’ll see Google Earth become the defacto 3D web browser vs. Duncan’s prognostication.

What’s Google Earth?

This is an embarrassing story.
Google Earth maintains huge advantages over gMaps–better UI, KMZ downloads, finer display settings, layers, etc, etc.

Not to mention that Keyhole followers are an incredibly loyal bunch.

Way off base.

google likes SNOW CRASH.

@23 not even in Flash - I know, i wish it was there…

There’s a company that takes the fun of Google Earth and the navigation benifits of Google Maps. You can actually see it on your mobile phone today (if its a Windows Mobile) m.navi2go.com

They added terrain and My Maps and you’re ready to say they’re nearly the same product? As many above me mentioned, there’s dozens of features that aren’t in Maps that are in Earth, and several of those can’t be brought to the web browser given the current limitations.

And no one mentioned superb:

http://earth.live.com

(install Virtual Earth 3d for full immersion)

google earth what?

Duncan, there is one huge reason Google will not make Google Earth extinct: it, along with Desktop Search and Picasa, is Google’s way of ensuring that Microsoft can’t IE their way into search engine dominance.

Google Earth is given away for free, but that doesn’t mean it doesn’t make money for Google. Every time it is installed, it gives people the opportunity, heck it almost forces them, to change their default search engine in Internet Explorer 7 in less than 4 clicks. That’s huge for Google. That means that even if Microsoft makes it 10 clicks to change your default search engine, all it takes is a download of a cool, free application and users are back on board.

Another excellent example why blogging will never replace traditional journalism.

Now, back to my blogging about the death of Microsoft Office

Regardless of the feature set, Google Earth is purely a carrier for the Google Toolbar. Google will never give up on a downloadable product until the toolbar wars are over in it’s favor.

Duncan, have you ever even used Google Earth?

Seriously, on this subject you’re as deeply wrong as possible. Think your logic over and try again.

this is a pathetically niave post and is the equivalent of saying the motor car will be eclipsed by the push cycle - Do some reading and then do some coding and see how far you can get into 3d with javascript and 2d images

This guy has seriously got the wires crossed…Google Earth is a user friendly GIS, not a hard copy map on steroids like Google Maps. Google Earth won’t go away. It is used by too many educators now anyway.

the IC makes heavy use of Google Earth– it is irreplaceable

Instead of imagine a browser trying to be Google Earth, I think Google Earth will be the future browser…You would not search text links anymore..just ask geographically, and, if you don´t know where to look for something…simple search within GE and you´ll see “where” your answears are..

It should! Gaggle should too!
You people have been duped! Come over to MSN!

http://fakesteveballmer.blogspot.com

Google Earth is a 3D browser. I didn’t make that up, it is what one of the programmers of GE told me. Comparing Google Earth and Google Maps as you have ignores the importance of 3D. Both GE and GM follow the Google prime directive — not the ‘don’t be evil’ one, but the ‘organize the world’s information’ one. Much of the world’s information is three-dimensional in nature, and a 2D viewing platform is not adequate to the task. If anything, GE will become MORE important in the future. Until Firefox does 3D (not holding my breath), Google Earth will be an important part of the Google product line.

To the question “Do TechCrunch Editors Get Grammar and Spelling?”, I’d add “Do they get idioms?” They keep using the phrase ‘begging the question’. I do
think they know what it means.

I use Google earth all the time to keep an eye on a property my family owns in the Arizona desert. One of the best features on it is the ability to tilt the earth downward, giving the impression that the view is from the ground level. Google Maps can’t do that, till then, its google earth for this techcrunch reader.

-Yonatan

We launched SadakMap.com a couple of months ago to offer a collaborative framework for user-generated content. Our reason was to generate “quality” local content. Our site allows users to mark up the map with places that they care about enough to spend a few seconds jotting down on the map. All places get review capability as well as a permalink so that they get indexed by the search engines.

Another notable feature is that of posting mini-blogs on the map. This will give our users an ear-on-the-ground for whats happening in the neighborhood. Some have also used this feature to highlight civic issues.

Facebook integration allows FB users to access SadakMap by first securely logging into Facebook. All users get a SpotMeUrl - its there personal beacon for where they are on the map and whats happening around them.

Now with Google working towards offering similar features, you know what will become of us Nevertheless, we will keep striving to find a niche.

Do give us a try.

Regards,
Unmesh Mayekar
Founder, SadakMap.com
SpotMeUrl: http://www.sadakmap.com/spotme/unmesh
(PS: the map initially center’s around India - but the features are applicable worldwide)

With the richness of Google Earth when compared with Google Maps it is doubtful that the Earth platform will be replaced. It certainly will evolve - in fact it would not be a surprise to see Google Earth become one of the primary ways of interacting with the Internet. A rich geographic interface is one of the more intuitive ways to keep track of people and things. Buckminster Fuller once described a creation called the Dymaxion Sphere which he envisioned to be a complete, realtime, representation of all of the Earth’s resources - physical and human. He believed that such a system would help to ease geopolitical tension by providing tools to aid governments in allocation of resource and talent. He wanted to build it on the southern tip of Roosevelt Island, across from the UN. There must not have been enough money or political will to do it ’cause there are condos there now. The “World Game” evolved from this concept - look it up on Wikipedia. Google Earth is a virtual Dymaxion Sphere on my desktop. A powerful interface I can take with me everywhere on a notebook. I use it for keeping track of all kinds of information and of course as a research tool. It is also a powerful communication tool. Its power and its ability to organize information will increase over time - exponentially. Just look at the additions of capability over the last couple of months. Who knows - with what has been happening at Google - Google Earth may become a nicer place to live than Real Earth.

Robert Curtis
Santa Rosa Beach
Florida

No way… three reasons… 3D, # of data points supported, and GIS competition.

Actually, in contrast to many other comments here I think this article is in the right direction.

Google Earth (and almost any other desktop app) has incredible advantages over the web, but only for the moment. In my opinion things are moving back towards the client/server model such as Terminal Services or Citrix, virtual machines, etc. The web is just an extension of that.

After all, what is the difference between a “local” app versus an “Internet” app? Only the execution platform. A local app has full access to the available hardware. An Internet app is confined to the browser environment. It all still executes on your machine and, after that, data is just simply data.

Really, the main thing holding back Internet based apps is the browser itself. I could easily see future browsers allowing Flash, Silverlight, etc to interact with any available hardware acceleration, such as graphic cards. Faster engines for JavaScript and other popular interpretive languages would also be necessary.

I’m guessing on the bottleneck here. Perhaps a future version of Silverlight, Flash, et al will be able to take advantage of 3D hardware without newer browsers.

With “disconnected Internet apps” making use of offline features from companies like Google and Adobe the term “Internet App” is starting to loose its original confined definition.

If you have an “Internet App” that goes offline, even though it runs in the browser is it still an Internet App? If the offline portion can be compiled to run on the native machine (many offline projects are going this route) is it still an Internet app or is it now a local app?

Right now you download Google Earth and run it on your own hardware. Yet you got the initial app from the Internet, and most all the data used to provide the content is streaming from the Internet. Why isn’t this an Internet app?

Once the bottle neck issues get solved, or as programs get further and further away from browser dependency, there will be no such thing as an Internet App.

Years ago (~1996) when I worked in software retail and the Internet was starting to become mainstream, I was telling customers that in the near future all our apps would be hosted through a service provider and only our data and the O/S would be on our hard drives. While we aren’t quite there, and it looks as if our data may indeed be hosted online as well, this is still the direction I see things going.

In the next 5 years this is what I can easily see being my typical vacation routine:
Walk into an Internet Café. Logging onto Flickr and uploading the digital photos I’ve taken on my trip. Logging onto Adobe’s site giving me access to the software I’ve “purchased”. Running Adobe Photoshop Elements to quickly retouch my photos directly from Flicker. Finally posting my favorites to my blog.

While the brands, apps, and other details may change in my scenario, the basic point it this: As a user I will have access to all my data and applications from any Internet capable computer (device?) and, as a user, I wont even care about the “how”.

That’s where things are going, and I wouldn’t be the least bit surprised to see it this way (or pretty darn close) in the next 5 years.

To #45, The area on the southern tip of Roosevelt Island that Buckminster Fuller wanted to locate the Dymaxion Games is called Southpoint Point and does not have condos or anything else built on it yet. It is a park with incredible views of NYC’s East River waterfront, and Brooklyn Queens/Manhattan skyline. I write a blog about the area called Roosevelt Islander. If anyone is interested in seeing these views click on the link in my post
http://rooseveltislander.blogs.....river.html

or you can go directly to picture.
http://www.flickr.com/photo_zo.....amp;size=o
I apologize in advance if anyone thinks this is off topic but I thought that #45 would be interested.

I like how google is adding features the cool features of earth to maps… I don’t have to flip back and forth to see topography. Seems like they are making maps into an ad machine.

Well…… Did anyone ever consider that Google might be building their own browser that incorporates what Google Earth can do into it?

I mean, if we’re going to start some silly rumors, why not start with that?

Google Earth was and is still used by many ‘gov’t agencies’ going back to the Keyhole days when it was a paid subscription model only. I seem to remember the CIA were early investors and still use the advanced versions of Google Earth. In fact the GIS industry is exploding and Google Earth is truly entrenched into many pro systems.

So basically to your article…poppycock!

Ken