Google Earth 3D Buildings

Google Earth has been updated with more virtual 3D effects, including sunlight and street view.

Google, Inc announced on Wednesday a new update to its "Google Earth" product which adds new navigation with improved zoom control and 3D buildings with Street View integration.

The new update comes less than a week after Microsoft released updates to its Live Maps and Virtual Earth 3D products.

Google Earth has added thousands of buildings contributed by people around the world as well as dozens of photo-textured cities and towns. The buildings are faster with more 3D content than before.

The new navigation includes improved zoom control, so you can swoop down from outer space to street level in a single seamless motion. With the new joystick addition, you can look up at buildings or across a mountain range.

The sunlight feature is a nice addition, where you can watch the sun rise over the Alps or set on a beach such as the Bahamas.

Google has added 12 new language packs which include Danish, English (UK), Spanish (Latin American), Finnish, Hebrew, Indonesian, Norwegian, Portuguese (PT), Romanian, Swedish, Thai, and Turkish.