The basic requirements for using the Google Earth Plug-in are available within the Operating System and Browser Requirements article.
In addition to the basic requirements, here are a few tips that will make using the Google Earth Plug-in a bit easier.
There’s lots of imagery that needs to constantly stream into view; so you’ll want to ensure that you’re continuously connected to a high-speed Internet connection. Slower connections may still work, but your experience will be best with high-speed connections.
The Google Earth Plug-in currently supports the following operating systems:
- Microsoft Windows (Windows XP, Windows Vista and Windows 7)
- Apple Mac OS X 10.5.0 and higher (Intel only)
The Google Earth Plug-in is currently available for the following web browsers:
Microsoft Windows (Windows XP, Windows Vista and Windows 7)
- Google Chrome 5.0+*
- Internet Explorer 7+ (32 bit) **
- Firefox 2.0+
- Flock 1.0+
Apple Mac OS X 10.5.0 and higher (Intel only)
- Google Chrome 5.0+*
- Safari 3.1+
- Firefox 3.0+
* If you are experiencing issues using the plugin with Chrome, please update to the latest version.
** If you are using Windows 7 64 bit then make sure you run "Internet Explorer" and not "Internet Explorer (64 bit)"
Although the plugin and API may work correctly on other browsers that support extensions, these browsers are not officially supported.
Also, since you’ll be using Google Earth through the Plug-in, you’ll also want to ensure that your computer can support Google Earth.
Please keep in mind that the Google Earth Plug-in is available only for the following PC and Mac configurations.
- Operating System: Windows XP, Windows Vista, or Windows 7
- CPU: Pentium 3, 500Mhz
- System Memory (RAM): 256MB
- Hard Disk: 400MB free space
- Network Speed: 128 Kbits/sec
- Graphics Card: DirectX9 and 3D capable with 64MB of VRAM
- Screen: 1024x768, "16-bit High Color" - DirectX 9 (to run in Direct X mode)
- Operating System: Windows XP or Windows Vista
- CPU: Pentium 4 2.4GHz+ or AMD 2400xp+
- System Memory (RAM): 512MB
- Hard Disk: 2GB free space
- Network Speed: 768 Kbits/sec
- Graphics Card: Card: DirectX9 and 3D capable with 256MB of VRAM
- Screen: 1280x1024, "32-bit True Color"
- Operating System: Mac OS X 10.5.0
- CPU: Any Intel Mac
- System Memory (RAM): 256MB
- Hard Disk: 400MB free space
- Network Speed: 128 Kbits/sec
- Graphics Card: DirectX9 and 3D capable with 64MB of VRAM
- Screen: 1024x768, "Thousands of Colors"
- Operating System: Mac OS X 10.5.2
- CPU: Dual Core Intel Mac
- System Memory (RAM): 512MB
- Hard Disk: 2GB free space
- Network Speed: 768 Kbits/sec
- Graphics Card: Card: DirectX9 and 3D capable with 256MB of VRAM
- Screen: 1280x1024, "Millions of Colors"
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