Here are some blog entries with details on the changes:
- Big update 23-Mar-2006 – TrueEarth update, Germany, tropical islands, and more.
- Maldive Island group – beautiful hi-res islands – see in Google Maps
- Las Vegas, Nevada – 3 inch/pixel data – see in Google Maps
- Stonehenge – now in high-resolution – see in Google Maps
- Big update 18-Apr-2006 – Most of western Europe gets updated
From a Google Maps perspective, only the data updates to the aerial and satellite photos are significant. The updates to things like place names you will need to use Google Earth to see.
While we are on this subject, OgleEarth points to a hidden feature allowing you to bring up Google Earth for the current view in Google Maps. If you choose the “Link to this page” option in Google Maps after searching for a location, you can bring up the same view in Google Earth by appending “&output=kml” to the URL.
[EDIT 18:10 EDT: Some folks have discovered that as part of these updates Google Maps and Google Earth can now give directions to most European areas – see example for Paris to Berlin.]
About Frank Taylor
Frank Taylor started the Google Earth Blog in July, 2005 shortly after Google Earth was first released. He has worked with 3D computer graphics and VR for many years and was very impressed with this exciting product. Frank completed a 5.5 year circumnavigation of the earth by sailboat in June 2015 which you can read about at Tahina Expedition, and is a licensed pilot, backpacker, diver, and photographer.