Google Earth makes its debut on Android tablets

Google has optimized the Google Earth service for Android Honeycomb-driven tablets, tailoring the user experience and features to a larger canvas compared to that of smartphones. “It makes Earth look better than ever on your tablet”, Google said. “It’s like moving to IMAX”, product manager Peter Birch joked in a blog post.

Moving from a mobile phone to a tablet was like going from a regular movie theatre to IMAX. We took advantage of the larger screen size, including features like content pop-ups appearing within Earth view, so you can see more information without switching back and forth between pages.

Features include a handy action bar that provides quick access to commonly used functions including flying to a location and navigating to various places of interest. Visually, the web app will take advantage of 3D-accelerated chips powering the latest Android tablets like the Motorola Xoom and Samsung Galaxy Tab…

You can browse locations with textured 3D buildings, like on your desktop. Street View tours are also available in tablet form, as well as Wikipedia layers and Panoramio images that enhance 3D scenes with crowd-sourced photos taken at that particular location.

You can download the new Google Earth for Android on the Android Market or check it out simply by visiting m.google.com/earth in your tablet’s browser. By the way, did you know that Google Earth debuted mere six years ago, in 2005?