It’s not every day there’s software one can get exited about. That said, the latest version of Google’s mapping app is pretty darned. Yes, the implementation could use some polish, but the intent and integration with the searchzilla universe is good. Though not all of the news is good, especially for those running older versions of OS X on non-Intel Macs.

Google Earth 6 has arrived and the reviews so far have been very positive. With street view integration, 3D trees and historical satellite views now baked in, there’s quite a bit to like in this very substantial whole number update.

• Integrated Street View: Enter Street View either by dropping pegman in navigation controls or by zooming in all the way to ground level on places that have Street View
• 3D Trees: Enable trees by turning on the check-box next to the Trees layer under the 3D buildings layer folder
• Easy to use historical imagery: Date of the oldest imagery will appear in the status bar at the bottom of the screen
• Ground-level navigation: You can now walk on the ground to explore either 3D buildings and trees or Street View imagery
• 3D Measurements in Google Earth Pro: You can now measure heights, widths of 3D buildings, distances from buildings to the ground
• Tour Recorder Improvements: Now incorporates the activation of Sunlight, Street View, and Historical Imagery modes into the recorded tour.
• Earth on PowerPC Mac has been discontinued, use Google Earth 5.2 version
• Earth on OS X 10.4 support discontinued, use Google Earth 5.2 version

What a bad week for PPC Macs, eh? Thunderbird 3.3 is following Firefox’s lead and leaving mature Macs at the side of the road to fend for themselves.

It’s almost as if there’s a conspiracy.

Nevertheless, I think the historic satellite view feature is cool, but what I really want is to be able to go back to the turn of the 20th Century, colonial times, etc. to see what things looked like. Isn’t that what this feature cries out to do?

If there are any aliens out there with satellite imagery — say, in five year increments — going back say 20 or so centuries, please do share…

What’s your take?