Google optimises Earth for Android tablets

Google has updated its version of Google Earth for Android to take advantage of the large screen-size and processing power of tablets.

In a blog post on Thursday, product manager Peter Birch said the update added support for fully-textured 3D buildings, as well as a new action bar making it easier to search the imagery and navigate layers of information. Google Earth started life as the company's virtual globe, but now incorporates street-level imagery and even extends out to space.

"Moving from a mobile phone to a tablet was like going from a regular movie theatre to IMAX," Birch wrote, noting his particular affection for exploring Rome's Colosseum with the tool. "We took advantage of the larger screen size, including features like content pop-ups appearing within Earth view, so you can see more information without switching back and forth between pages."

The new version of Google Earth for Android will work on all devices using version 2.1 or greater of the mobile operating system. The tablet features are available for devices that use the 'Honeycomb' Android 3.0 OS, which is the first version optimised by Google for tablets.