Google Earth Simple English Wikipedia The Free Encyclopedia

Leo Migdal

-Dec 14, 2025, 8:59 AM

google earth simple english wikipedia the free encyclopedia

Google Earth is a virtual globe program that was first called Earth Viewer. Keyhole, Inc. created it in 2001. It has been owned by Google since 2004.[2] The program maps the surface of Earth by combining pictures taken by satellites and airplanes. There are also 3D maps where users can look at areas from different angles. It is quite similar to Google Maps.

Google Earth is interactive and lets the user move the globe, and look at satellite imagery with overlays of roads, buildings, geographic features, and more.[3] Teachers can use it to improve students' visual literacy. Students can use it to develop a background for three-dimensional and cultural differences.[3] Google Earth is a web and computer program created by Google that renders a 3D representation of Earth based primarily on satellite imagery. The program maps the Earth by superimposing satellite images, aerial photography, and GIS data onto a 3D globe, allowing users to see cities and landscapes from various angles. Users can explore the globe by entering addresses and coordinates, or by using a keyboard or mouse.

The program can also be downloaded on a smartphone or tablet, using a touch screen or stylus to navigate. Users may use the program to add their own data using Keyhole Markup Language and upload them through various sources, such as forums or blogs. Google Earth is able to show various kinds of images overlaid on the surface of the Earth and is also a Web Map Service client. In 2019, Google revealed that Google Earth covers more than 97 percent of the world.[8] In addition to Earth navigation, Google Earth provides a series of other tools through the desktop application, including a measure distance tool. Additional globes for the Moon and Mars are available, as well as a tool for viewing the night sky.

A flight simulator game is also included. Other features allow users to view photos from various places uploaded to Panoramio, information provided by Wikipedia on some locations, and Street View imagery. The web-based version of Google Earth also includes Voyager, a feature that periodically adds in-program tours, often presented by scientists and documentarians. Google Earth has been viewed by some as a threat to privacy and national security, leading to the program being banned in multiple countries.[9] Some countries have requested that certain areas be obscured in... The core technology behind Google Earth was originally developed at Intrinsic Graphics in the late 1990s. At the time, the company was developing 3D gaming software libraries.[10] As a demo of their 3D software, they created a spinning globe that could be zoomed into, similar to the Powers of Ten...

Fortunes for the company changed in early 2003 during the 2003 invasion of Iraq, when Dave Lorenzini (Director at Keyhole) enticed CNN, ABC, CBS and other major news networks to use their sophisticated 3D... Earth is the third planet from the Sun and the only place we know of where life exists. One big reason life can exist here is that Earth is an “ocean world.” This means it has a lot of water on its surface, and it is the only planet in our Solar... Most of Earth’s water is in the oceans, which cover about 71% of the planet’s surface. The rest, about 29%, is land. Most of this land is grouped into large continents, like North America, Africa, and Asia, which are mostly humid and covered with plants.

Even the icy parts at the North and South Poles hold more water in their ice sheets than all of the lakes, rivers, and underground water combined.[22] Earth’s outer layer, called the crust, is made of big pieces called tectonic plates that slowly move around. When these plates push against each other, they can create mountains, volcanoes, and earthquakes. You can think of it like giant puzzle pieces slowly sliding and bumping into each other. Deep inside Earth, there is a liquid outer core. This spinning liquid creates a magnetic field around the planet, called a magnetosphere.

The magnetosphere works like a protective shield, keeping most of the dangerous solar winds and cosmic radiation from reaching the surface, which helps life survive.[22] Earth has an atmosphere, which is a layer of gases that surrounds the planet. This atmosphere is very important because it keeps Earth’s surface conditions just right for life. It also protects us from most meteoroids that hit Earth and from harmful ultraviolet (UV) light from the Sun. Most of the atmosphere is made of nitrogen and oxygen, the gases we breathe. There is also water vapor in the air, which forms clouds that cover much of the planet.

The water vapor and other gases, like carbon dioxide (CO2), help trap energy from the Sun. This is called the greenhouse effect. You can think of it like a blanket around Earth: it keeps the planet warm enough for liquid water to exist on the surface. Because of this, the average temperature on Earth is about 15 °C (59 °F), which is perfect for water to stay liquid instead of freezing or evaporating too quickly. Different parts of Earth get different amounts of sunlight. For example, the equator gets more sunlight than the poles.

This difference causes winds in the atmosphere and currents in the oceans, moving heat and water around the planet. These movements create the global climate system, which includes different climate zones, like deserts, rainforests, and polar regions. They also cause weather events like rain and snow, and help important elements like carbon and nitrogen move through the environment, which is essential for life.[22] Earth is shaped like a slightly squashed ball, called an ellipsoid. If you could travel all the way around it at the equator, you would cover about 40,000 kilometers (about 25,000 miles). Earth is the densest planet in our Solar System, which means it has more mass packed into its size than any other planet.

Among the four rocky planets, Mercury, Venus, Earth, and Mars, Earth is the largest and heaviest. Earth is about 150 million kilometers (93 million miles) from the Sun, which is also called 1 astronomical unit, or 1 AU. Light from the Sun takes about eight minutes to reach us. Earth travels around the Sun in an orbit, taking one year, about 365.25 days, to complete a full circle. At the same time, Earth spins around its own axis once every day, which actually takes about 23 hours and 56 minutes. The axis is tilted, which is why we have seasons: when one side leans toward the Sun, it is summer there, and when it leans away, it is winter.

Earth has one natural satellite, the Moon. The Moon orbits Earth at about 384,400 kilometers (238,855 miles), which is 1.28 light seconds away. The Moon is about one-quarter the size of Earth. Its gravity affects Earth in important ways. It helps keep Earth’s tilt stable, creates tides in the oceans, and slowly makes Earth spin a little slower over time. At the same time, Earth’s gravity has locked the Moon so that the same side always faces us.[22]

Earth formed about 4.5 billion years ago from clouds of gas and dust in the early Solar System. You can imagine it like tiny pieces of dust sticking together to slowly build a planet. During the first billion years, oceans formed on Earth, and soon after, life began in these waters. Over time, life spread all over the planet and started changing the air and the surface of Earth. About two billion years ago, this led to the Great Oxidation Event, when oxygen became common in the atmosphere for the first time. Humans appeared much later, around 300,000 years ago, starting in Africa.

Since then, humans have spread to every continent. People rely on Earth’s plants, animals, water, and other natural resources to survive. But as human populations have grown and technology has advanced, we have started to change the environment in big ways. Today, human activities are affecting Earth’s climate and ecosystems in ways that are not sustainable. This means that if things continue as they are, it could make it harder for humans and many other living things to survive. Our impact is causing problems like climate change, loss of habitats, and extinction of species, which shows how important it is to take care of the planet.[22]

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If you are undecided, remember any contribution helps. Today, we ask you to join the 2% of readers who give. If everyone reading this right now gave just $2.75, we'd hit our goal quickly. $2.75 is all we ask. Aw snap! Google Earth isn't supported on your browser.

You may need to update your browser or use a different browser. Please see our system requirements for more information. Chrome is a great choice and you can download it here. Or if you're feeling adventurous, you can try Earth anyway by choosing an option below. Google Earth is a cool computer program and website made by Google. It shows you a 3D picture of our Earth.

Google Earth Simple English Wikipedia The Free Encyclopedia

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