Google Added A Measurement Tool To Google Earth And It's Great

Credit: Kevin Murnane

The perimeter and area of the National Mall in Washington DC.

Google Earth now has a measurement tool that lets you measure both distance and area. The new tool is available now on Chrome and Android and is “coming soon” to iOS.

Straight-line distance from one place to another is simply a matter of clicking to place an anchor point on both places. You can also measure route distance by placing an anchor point at each turn. The tool draws a straight line between the two anchors so if you want a better estimate of route distance, you have to place anchors at short distances around curves.

Enclosing a space with anchor points returns both the area and the distance around the space. For example, you can see a rough estimate of the perimeter and area of the National Mall in Washington DC in the image above. The Mall covers roughly 480 acres and a run around it is approximately 5.85 miles.

Credit: Google

The Android version of Google Earth's measurement tool.

In my brief time playing with it, I found the tool works much better when placing the anchor points is controlled with a mouse on a desktop or laptop than with a finger on a smartphone. You just click on the spot where you want to place the anchor with a mouse. It couldn’t be easier. On a smartphone, you drag the map under the anchor point with your finger. This means dragging in the opposite direction of where you want the anchor to go; you drag down to move the anchor up. Many may be comfortable with this method, but I wish the user could toggle between dragging the map and dragging the anchor.

Google Earth’s measurement tool is fun, useful, and easy to use with a mouse. For fun, it took me less than a minute to discover our two routine dog walks are about a quarter and a third of a mile respectively. For useful, the tool will make it much faster and easier to map out cycling routes I’m planning on filming with an action camera. It’s a great addition to Google Earth.

Kevin Murnane covers science, technology and video games for Forbes. His blogs are The Info Monkey & Tuned In To Cycling and he's The Info Monkey on Facebook & @TheInfoMonkey on Twitter.

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