by , 6:50 PM EDT, June 12th, 2006

Google announced the immediate availability of new versions of Google Earth and Google SketchUp at its Geo Developer Day on Monday. Google Earth 4 is available as a public beta, and is a Universal Binary application, bringing native PowerPC and Intel-based mac support to the world map and data tracking application. It also includes a streamlined interface, textured buildings in 3D view, improved satellite imagery, KML file support, and more. Google Earth 4 beta is available for download at the Google Web site, and is free.

Google Earth 4 beta.

Google SketchUp 5 adds support for textures, allowing you to apply photographs or other images to a building object to add more realism to your Google Earth 3D models. Google SketchUp is free and available for download at the Google Web site. If you have trouble downloading Google SketchUp, try the download link at the VersionTracker Web site.