Although the browser-based version has a certain ease of use (since it does not have to be installed as a desktop application), it does not have as many features that are helpful for educational activities. Google Earth for Web is a browser-based version and Google Earth on mobile is an app both are also free of charge. Google Earth Pro is available to download for desktop use for free. Google also refers to Google Earth as a 'geographic browser.' Other examples of geobrowsers are NASA's World Wind, ESRI's Explorer for ArcGIS, and GeoFusions's GeoPlayer.
Geobrowsers are alternatively known as virtual globes or Earth browsers. Google Earth is a geobrowser that accesses satellite and aerial imagery, topography, ocean bathymetry, and other geographic data over the internet to represent the Earth as a three-dimensional globe.
Google Earth Pro with the Volcanoes layer visible, and tectonic plate boundary data from USGS displayed
