Google is one of the largest search engines in the world of Web. Therefore, it is quite natural that it offers its users two such amazing search and educational options as Google Earth and Google scholar. Find out more about those applications, the conditions, PC and OS requirements for their use, their features and some of their pros and cons. Read on.

Google is one of the most famous and most frequently used online search engines. It helps people navigate the sea of online information and connect the content or product searchers with adequate and proper places of destination, where they can find what they are looking for. Viewing Google from this prospective, it is no wonder that we can find such features as Google Earth or Google scholar, being fitting parts of this search engine. From this article you will find out more about some of the things you may benefit from, using the Google Earth and Google scholar in your search for information and studies.

Let us start with the Google Earth and first of all we will discover what it is. The Google Earth is the 3D virtual globe software. It is free for the personal use, though business or commercial use versions and some upgrades are not free of charge. The Google Earth has found its name after Google has acquired Keyhole Inc. in the year of 2004, which has actually developed this program. Presently, the Google Earth can be run from PCs with Mac OS X 10.3.9 and above, and Microsoft Windows 2000 or XP. The Linux version, which was supposed to be out and running in the year of 2005, is going to be launched in 2006. The Google Earth provides its users with the Earth satellite imagery at high (no less than fifteen meters) resolution. Moreover, through the Google Earth you may see different geographical locations, cities with buildings, homes and even cars. The Google Earth provides even an address search option for the USA, Canada and the UK. Thus, you may find a location in those countries by simply entering their addresses. Furthermore, the Google Earth has a list of about thirty nine largest US cities with their best buildings and places available for viewing. Among them there are such metropolises as NYC, Chicago, Boston, Los Angeles, etc.

Nevertheless, the Google Earth has both some shortcomings as well as some obvious benefits, which it offers to its users. In the Google Earth there can be found some inaccuracies in the vector mapping, some confusion about alternative geographical local names, used on different languages or in search options. Therefore, for instance, there has been some discussion and confusion about using Jerusalem” and “Yerushalayim” geographical name, but neglecting the Arabian name of this city in the Google Earth. Korean users became upset about Google Maps, using Japanese names for bays along the southeastern coast of the Korean Peninsula. However, the benefits of using the Google Earth are obvious. This application allows people to travel around the Globe without even having to leave their homes and all for free! In addition, now the Google Earth Plus paid upgrade allows people to use their GPS devices to attain a higher resolution in printing, to receive a customer support via email, to add draw/sketch tools for richer annotations and to import Data through a data importer.

Now, the Google scholar is an application, which permits people to perform easy and effective searches for scholarly literature, such as peer-reviewed papers, theses, books, abstracts and articles, from academic publishers, professional societies, preprint repositories, universities and other scholarly organizations.