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Google Earth Pro now Free?

January 28, 2015

Last week we got an email from GEB reader Alan letting us know that Google Earth Pro, which formerly cost US$400 per year, appears to now be free. There has been no official announcement from Google as yet on the subject.

[Update: Google have now officially announced that Google Earth Pro is free. ]

We signed up for Google Earth Pro, and instead of granting us a 7-day trial licence as was formerly the case, we received an email with a licence key clearly stating that it is a free licence. Also, we formerly had a trial key and requested our account infomation. We received an email with our licence key and a stated expiry date of January 20, 2017. Both the above keys work in Google Earth Pro. In addition, links to licence purchasing and renewal pages now redirect to the Google Earth Pro download page.

Before you rush off to download Google Earth Pro, keep in mind that for the vast majority of users it has no significant features that they need. Be sure to check out the feature comparison list here before downloading it. Google Earth Pro suffers from all the same bugs that are found in Google Earth, as it is based on the same code base, so do not expect it to resolve bug related issues you may be having with Google Earth.

US demographics
Google Earth Pro includes access to demographics, parcel data and daily traffic counts for the United States.

Area and perimeter
Google Earth Pro includes area and perimeter measurements of polygons, a feature not available in the standard version of Google Earth.

About Timothy Whitehead

Timothy has been using Google Earth since 2004 when it was still called Keyhole before it was renamed Google Earth in 2005 and has been a huge fan ever since. He is a programmer working for Red Wing Aerobatx and lives in Cape Town, South Africa.

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Filed Under: Google Earth News Tagged With: google earth pro

Reader Interactions






PLEASE NOTE: Google Earth Blog is no longer writing regular posts. As a result, we are not accepting new comments or questions about Google Earth. If you have a question, use the official Google Earth and Maps Forums or the Google Earth Community Forums.

Comments

  1. Henry says

    January 28, 2015 at 6:01 am

    Seems to work for me – the area measurement tool is now indispensable. Thanks for the heads-up.

  2. chuck dudley says

    January 28, 2015 at 7:31 am

    Can it be installed over normal Google Earth and will Pro pick up your already existing data base?

    • Federico says

      January 28, 2015 at 1:00 pm

      I installed it and take all my data sources from normal version in the pro version

      • chuck dudley says

        January 28, 2015 at 5:43 pm

        Thank you friend.

  3. Dominik says

    January 28, 2015 at 8:05 am

    Awesome! I’ve been waiting for this for ages! Now I can finally easily record videos and fly through of my SketchUp models and of interesting places! Thank you very much!

  4. Ryan says

    January 28, 2015 at 8:42 am

    Thank you thank you thank you for letting me know. I’ve missed some of the measuring features and movie recording since I couldn’t afford to renew my license. This is awesome.

  5. Fizz says

    January 28, 2015 at 12:19 pm

    You are my hero!!! This will allow me save me huge amounts of time. I’m so glad I read this blog today!

  6. Will says

    January 28, 2015 at 12:20 pm

    I had an old trial licence, but can’t get it working. GE > Help > ‘Upgrade to GE Pro…’ just takes me to a webpage for registration, but won’t allow me to download GE Pro. Any tips? I got two licence keys with the email from Google: one with an expiry date, one without. Neither key seems to work.

    • Paul says

      January 28, 2015 at 1:48 pm

      try downloading the exe for pro directly through the link in the Article above.

      • Clemens says

        January 31, 2015 at 5:48 pm

        I had the same: install the Pro version (if already done it is also ok) and start it.
        Then go to help and deactivate Pro licence or something like that.
        After that you can registrate again, then you get a new license key that expires in 2017.

    • Terry Heidemann says

      February 26, 2015 at 1:18 am

      If you install it again then to activate it use your email address and then the key GEPFREE – it works

      • Dan says

        June 2, 2015 at 2:48 pm

        Thanks Terry!
        You saved me a lot of time trying login.

  7. bob says

    January 28, 2015 at 1:29 pm

    Installed fine for me, without the nag of a seven day trial. In the install box there was a button to purchase the ‘enhanced version’ of Google Earth.

  8. Martin says

    January 28, 2015 at 1:43 pm

    It works even in Germany, thanks!

  9. Paul says

    January 28, 2015 at 1:47 pm

    you can disable terrain completely πŸ˜€

  10. Will says

    January 28, 2015 at 4:28 pm

    “try downloading the exe for pro directly through the link in the Article above.”

    I’m using a Mac, so no exe file. Sorry – I should have mentioned it.

    • Cory says

      January 28, 2015 at 6:17 pm

      Will, you should be able to download the dmg file from here:
      http://www.google.com/intl/en/earth/download/gep/agree.html
      or here: https://support.google.com/earth/answer/168344?hl=en

  11. gis says

    January 28, 2015 at 8:30 pm

    What about ArcGIS Online Scene?

    http://sdcounty.maps.arcgis.com/home/webscene/viewer.html?webscene=6cfd502035e7488da7d9de2978179567

    it works and integrates seemlessly with real GIS data. Seems like an extra step to use a file base system to show something in 3d.

  12. Shadnoff says

    January 29, 2015 at 3:56 am

    I am experiencing some difficulties. After downloading and installing, it is telling me that i am trying to enter the google earth pro key to google earth plus. Any idea/help?

    • Danilo Mota says

      January 29, 2015 at 1:07 pm

      I have the same problem. Don’t know what to do.

      • Timothy Whitehead says

        January 29, 2015 at 2:49 pm

        Try this download link:
        http://www.google.co.za/earth/download/gep/agree.html

        • Leonardo Leidi says

          January 29, 2015 at 3:14 pm

          I could install Google Earth Pro, from this link, to use it on different devices (PC, notebook). Note when you register your data, put in users 2-5 (depending on the devices you want to install it) so you can use it with the same user and key.

  13. Will says

    January 29, 2015 at 5:58 am

    Thanks for the help guys. I’ll try again.

    I emailed Google about my installation problem and they have confirmed the GE Pro is now free. Yay!

  14. AC says

    January 29, 2015 at 7:12 am

    The support article on getting a GEP license has been updated for languages other than English, stating that from Jan 20th, 2015, Google Earth Pro is indeed free. As an example, the french language page:
    https://support.google.com/earth/answer/176160?hl=fr

    Having the option to disable the terrain layer is a huge plus. I might finally upgrade from GE6 (despite the other anoyances of GE7).

    In the meantime, I registered and got the license to use it.

  15. Leonardo Leidi says

    January 29, 2015 at 8:34 am

    It works for me in Argentina. It says license will expire in January 2017, but I have the hope that could be as whatsapp, when time arrives, then you have two years more πŸ™‚

  16. Danilo Mota says

    January 29, 2015 at 1:05 pm

    I’ve tried to register my license, but appear the message:
    “You are attempting to use Google Earth Plus, but the License Key you entered, xxxxxxxxx, is for Google Earth Pro. Please click ‘Sign up’ below to download Google Earth Pro.

    But it still downloading the same version. Some help?

    • Cory says

      January 30, 2015 at 1:39 pm

      Danilo, are you trying to register the key as described here?
      https://support.google.com/earth/answer/3273767?hl=en&ref_topic=2376762
      It seems you don’t need to do that any more. Just sign in via the option in the File menu in Google Earth with your email address and license key.

  17. DJ says

    January 29, 2015 at 1:58 pm

    Installed and works great. No need to uninstall prev GE versions. Will automatically use your old existing My places file and previous settings. Only issue is that the initial start screens are confusing and still ask you if you want to “upgrade to PRO” – even though you clearly already have the pro installed. you will need to re-point any existing convenience links you have set up to the new “pro” folder which is easy to do.

    The only real uneasiness I have is trying to understand why Google is doing this. What is going on at that company? Discontinuing highly used APIs – and now making “pro” available to the masses – what gives???!!! Are they going to dump GE as we know it too? Or reveal a new product that will be entirely paid to take the place of GE? or… ??

  18. Tom says

    January 29, 2015 at 4:07 pm

    Its like GE8 for me. Movie export is incredible!! It works with sun animation, cloud layers, photorealistic atmosphere and in Streetview. Also, ultraHD images export. I couldn’t ask for anything more.

  19. John says

    January 30, 2015 at 3:15 pm

    Now official:

    http://google-latlong.blogspot.com/2015/01/google-earth-pro-is-now-free.html

  20. Kale Smith says

    January 31, 2015 at 12:49 am

    i tried installing it and at the end it stopped and sair error code 997 I/O overlapped usage in progress. and then the installer closes.

    • Guilford Smith says

      February 1, 2015 at 6:17 am

      Sorry that you are having difficulty, but glad to learn that I am not the only one with the 997 failure code. Hopefully, someone has an answer.

      • Rainer says

        February 3, 2015 at 7:36 am

        I had the same problem, but I could solve this. The installer unzips all files to
        D:\temp\._msige61\program files\Google\Google Earth Pro
        Please look for for your environment variable TEMP on your system. I copied all files from this folder to the where I wished them to be installed. In my case
        D:\Programs\Google\Google Earth Pro
        After that a created a shortcut to googleearth.exe on the desktop and then I could start the program.

  21. Jim G says

    January 31, 2015 at 7:07 pm

    Sorry, but this does NOT WORK. I am able to download and run the setup file, then I receive an “Installed” notification in a dialog box, which I can either OK or Cancel. After I OK, nothing. I search for and click on the Google Earth Pro (in Windows 8), which opens the “old” Google Earth app. Have tried several times, with different email accounts and get the same results. Help for any credible source would be greatly appreciated. Thx.

  22. Chris S. says

    February 3, 2015 at 1:25 am

    Can’t get past the “downloading…” screen of the installer. Nothing happens.

    • chuck dudley says

      February 3, 2015 at 7:38 am

      Maybe try clearing all of your Cookies, History Cache and Temp Files, reboot and try again. Which browser are you using?

      • Chris S. says

        February 4, 2015 at 2:42 am

        Using IE 11 but also tried Chrome. No luck. I deleted the existing Google Earth programs. Still no luck. I’ll try your suggestions.

  23. Florian Lohoff says

    February 4, 2015 at 4:39 am

    Its a shame that the Linux Version is still a 6.0 not a 7.1 … Why is there no current Linux version?

    • chuck dudley says

      February 4, 2015 at 7:58 am

      Florian Lohoff Can you just run the WinBlows version off VM Ware?

  24. Nicole Douglas says

    February 5, 2015 at 7:38 am

    Please let me know if I should ask this somewhere else but I just started using the program and want to know if I create a polygon on a certain area can it give me the population density just in that polygon area? If so, can you tell me how to do get the population information? Thank you in advance!

    • Timothy Whitehead says

      February 5, 2015 at 10:28 am

      Google Earth Pro does not have the functionality to do that.

      • Nicole Douglas says

        February 5, 2015 at 11:21 pm

        Ok, thank you. I’ve been searching for an answer and I thought I saw something about importing a grid but couldn’t find specific steps.

  25. Michael Okeefe says

    February 11, 2015 at 6:22 pm

    Is this free version permanent?

    • Clemens says

      February 12, 2015 at 5:32 pm

      at least until somewhere in 2017 was written in the registration email.
      What happens after that?

  26. F-302 says

    February 17, 2015 at 8:51 am

    The registration link https://geoauth.google.com/gev0/free_trial.html is not working(((((((((((((
    I can’t make a request for a key(((

    • Timothy Whitehead says

      February 17, 2015 at 9:44 am

      Log in with your email address and key: GEPFREE

      • greentea says

        February 18, 2015 at 12:20 pm

        I cannot install Google Earth pro at all. It says Error 9, cannot find a file.
        I use Windows7, I tried it with Internet Explorer, Opera, Firefox, Crome and Safari.

        • Timothy Whitehead says

          February 18, 2015 at 12:40 pm

          Try the links on this page:
          https://support.google.com/earth/answer/168344

          • Belinda says

            March 8, 2015 at 6:28 pm

            I’ve installed Google Earth Pro and all my places, etc. from Google Earth have automatically shifted to the Pro version which seems to be working perfectly.
            Can I now uninstall Google Earth ? Would appreciate your advice.

          • chuck dudley says

            March 9, 2015 at 7:15 am

            good question is it safe to uninstall old GE Free version.

  27. Dan Jacobson says

    April 18, 2015 at 4:47 am

    One would think they would remove all the verification machinery before announcing it is now free.
    Instead seven out of eight installations fail due to all the confusion left built in.

  28. Trevor says

    May 14, 2015 at 7:05 am

    I successfully downloaded the installer, but immediately get the message “The installer experienced error 1618”
    I haven’t found an intelligible solution to this.
    Can you help? I have often wanted to access some of the features or GEP but found the cost prohibitive for the limited use I have for it. However, a free version is terrific. Right now I want to calculate the areas of a subdivision.
    Cheers

    • Timothy Whitehead says

      May 14, 2015 at 7:53 am

      Try using the offline installer from here:
      https://support.google.com/earth/answer/168344?hl=en

      • Trevor says

        July 9, 2015 at 5:41 am

        Hi Tim
        Excellent advice. Loaded with no problems.

        β€œThe installer experienced error 1618β€³ error is avoided by using the offline installer downloaded from the ling you advised above: https://support.google.com/earth/answer/168344?hl=en

        Many thanks!!

  29. Addison says

    July 28, 2015 at 7:38 pm

    I cannot download Google Earth Pro, I’ve tried many times but it will not work

    • Timothy Whitehead says

      July 29, 2015 at 1:37 am

      Try the offline installer found here:
      https://support.google.com/earth/answer/168344?hl=en

      • MARVIN J WAGNER says

        January 2, 2017 at 7:38 pm

        I just tried to do this from the offline installer but when I tried to open the executable I still got the same 1618 error. What is it please? And how can it be avoided? Thanks

      • MARVIN J WAGNER says

        January 2, 2017 at 7:44 pm

        === Verbose logging started: 1/2/2017 17:36:21 Build type: SHIP UNICODE 5.00.7601.00 Calling process: D:\DOWNLOADS\PROGRAMS\googleearth-win-pro-7.1.7.2602.exe ===
        MSI (c) (78:B0) [17:36:21:690]: Resetting cached policy values
        MSI (c) (78:B0) [17:36:21:690]: Machine policy value ‘Debug’ is 0
        MSI (c) (78:B0) [17:36:21:690]: ******* RunEngine:
        ******* Product: C:\Users\Marvin\AppData\Local\Temp\GoogleEarth-Pro.msi
        ******* Action:
        ******* CommandLine: **********
        MSI (c) (78:B0) [17:36:21:691]: Client-side and UI is none or basic: Running entire install on the server.
        MSI (c) (78:B0) [17:36:24:691]: Failed to grab execution mutex. System error 258.
        MSI (c) (78:B0) [17:36:24:757]: Cloaking enabled.
        MSI (c) (78:B0) [17:36:24:757]: Attempting to enable all disabled privileges before calling Install on Server
        MSI (c) (78:B0) [17:36:24:763]: Incrementing counter to disable shutdown. Counter after increment: 0
        MSI (c) (78:B0) [17:36:24:765]: Decrementing counter to disable shutdown. If counter >= 0, shutdown will be denied. Counter after decrement: -1
        MSI (c) (78:B0) [17:36:24:765]: MainEngineThread is returning 1618
        === Verbose logging stopped: 1/2/2017 17:36:24 ===

  30. Theo says

    February 1, 2016 at 8:19 pm

    I noticed the Earthpro folder is no longer in the Layers space in my copy of GEPRo (Been a subscriber for years). Is this just an issue with my GEP, or is it part of the move to free subscriptions? If it’s just me, does anyone have suggestions for how I can get it back?

    • Timothy Whitehead says

      February 2, 2016 at 6:58 am

      See this post: Google Earth Pro layers being dropped

  31. nawaz says

    March 11, 2016 at 12:58 pm

    when google earth pro will work for android phoe



PLEASE NOTE: Google Earth Blog is no longer writing regular posts. As a result, we are not accepting new comments or questions about Google Earth. If you have a question, use the official Google Earth and Maps Forums or the Google Earth Community Forums.

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