Quick Earth for Windows

Anyone who's ever played around with Google Earth knows exactly how addictive it can be, jumping via satellite from your house to the Grand Canyon to your old elementary school to the pyramids of Giza. Quick Earth is an extension for Google Chrome that puts Google Earth at your fingertips, launching the popular satellite map service within your browser. It's a must-have for geography nerds, travel buffs, and anyone else who enjoys flying around the world from the comfort of home.

Like most Chrome extensions, Quick Earth installs without issues, but it does require the Google Earth plug-in to work. Once we had everything installed, we clicked the Quick Earth icon to the right of the address bar; a screen appeared showing Earth from space, and we had only to type a location into the text box at the top to start our journey. Controls on the screen let you easily move the view around, zoom in and out, and change the perspective, and there are options to turn the sun, terrain, and 3D buildings on and off. There's also a full-screen mode for those who want a bigger view.

There's no Help file, but Quick Earth is pretty easy to figure out, especially if you've used Google Earth before. Overall, we think that Quick Earth is a fun thing to have around, and frequent users of Google Earth will appreciate the convenience of having access to it from within their browser.