Thanks to Google Earth Blog for news of an updated version of Google Earth.
The most significant feature for teachers is that the free version now includes the ability to draw polygons and paths – previously this required GE Plus (which can’t really be used in school) Other improvements include altitude for overlays. This means that it’s possible to zoom down past cloud formations to an uninterrupted view of the ground. Finally there’s a nice new icon set. It looks from the release notes that it is possible to do a site -wide install, though I’ll have to wait for a network manager to tell me more about this.
I’d like to see an easier way to find the icon palettes in the next version. Unless I’m mistaken, the only way to access the numerous other icons is to browse the Program Files/Google/Google Earth/res folder.