Update your Google Earth

I just noticed that a place in Canada that I had bookmarked in Google Earth (one of the lodges I go to for hiking) was suddenly showing up in very low resolution. It had previously had much better resolution. I checked and saw that there is an update to the version I had. I downloaded it, and now it's back to its previous (higher) resolution.

I have no idea why the older version was being denied the full resolution, but I just thought I'd pass this along. I had been wondering if they had cut down on the resolution of the free version in order to get people to pay for an upgrade, but it appears you just need the latest free version.

The version I just downloaded for my iMac is 4.2.0205.5730

 

Since the actual images and other data are stored on their server, and the program communicates with the server, I can understand that they might want to make sure the software is up to date so as not to confuse newer server software.

But instead of cutting the resolution, I'd have preferred them to show me a message saying "Your version is out of date. You must have the current version to continue accessing the server."

This is a very minor complaint. Hey, they're giving us valuable information for free! I use Google Earth nearly every day, to look at some place I'm curious about, or as an alternative to the atlas (it's easier to find a place on G E than in an atlas) or to measure the driving distance to some place to make sure it's within my Xebra's 35-mile range. I can even see elevation differences, which matter when you drive a 35-mile car.