Google Earth maps onto the iPhone

Google has already customised some of its websites for display on the iPhone but now the company has produced a handheld version of its Google Earth geographical software.

Google Earth lets people virtually fly around a 3D view of the world made from satellite and aerial imagery mapped onto the planet's mountains and valleys. The iPhone version reproduces this core experience, downloading imagery from Google's servers as the perspective shifts and dotting the map with landmarks, photos and other information.

Peter Birch, Google Earth's product manager, said: "The idea of having Earth on a mobile device is something people dreamed of back to the Keyhole days [satellite imagery company Google acquired in 2004] and before. This is the first opportunity we've had to be able to deliver a great experience."

Keyhole began its first version of what later became Google Earth in 2001, when computer horsepower and network capacity had not risen to their current levels. "A lot of that core engine can run on a device like this," Birch said.

The free software started becoming available through Apple's App store on Sunday. It's a free download in 20 countries, running in all 18 languages the iPhone supports.

So what exactly would users do with Google Earth for? Though you can search for specific addresses, Google Earth in general is more for exploring than for practical tasks such as navigation. There's no turn-by-turn directions and no map view showing street names, as on Google Maps, for example.

But there is some practical utility. The computer version of Google Earth can show many layers of information, including user-supplied ones on the internet. The iPhone is more limited for now, with small blue squares indicating where you can see geotagged photos of a particular area that are stored on Google's Panoramio site and "W" icons indicating links to geotagged Wikipedia articles.

The Google Earth iPhone application will show search results such as pizza restaurants as small red pushpins. Touching the pushpin will pop up a window with information such as a business's website and phone number.

And happily, like Safari but unlike most iPhone applications, Google Earth can use a horizontally oriented touchscreen keyboard, too.

There are now ads in Google Maps for desktop computers, and Google Earth for PCs shows "very limited" ads right now, Birch said, but currently there are no ads on the iPhone version of Google Earth but Birch said Google is "definitely not" ruling it out.

"Within [Google's geographic products group] as a whole, we see advertising as a huge opportunity. Geographic mapping as a business for Google is a great opportunity. We wouldn't be in it if we didn't see it as a major bottom-line contributor," Birch said. "We're absolutely looking at and experimenting with ads in Earth as well."

Birch was cagey about what else will come of the software but Google's Android operating system for mobile phones appears to be high on the list.

"We're huge fans of the iPhone. It's a fantastic platform and a great opportunity to show Google technology. We're equally excited about Android," Birch said. However, he added, "We have nothing to announce right now."

Original article: Google Earth brings virtual tourism to iPhone from CNET News.com