Most people place a premium on speed.  Fast cars, fast computers, and even fast food joints are often regarded as better than slower-moving alternatives.  Google Earth users may be glad to hear, then, that Google Earth 5.1 has been released and speed is its most marketable quality.

The progress should be evident right from the beginning.  A post on the LatLong Blog states, "We know that waiting for a program to start-up can be really frustrating, so we improved our start-up time by 25%."

Tweaks in terms of memory utilization and shaders from that point on have also been made.  All in all, the post promises, "we can show more buildings, layers, and user content," and you’ll get "[a] faster, smoother experience when you’re flying around the globe."

Since issues pertaining to speed can definitely be a stumbling block to adoption, version 5.1 of Google Earth could succeed at attracting new users.  It might even be well positioned to make its debut in a lot of schools, if the old clunkers in computer labs weren’t capable of running it before.

Regardless, this represents a nice treat for existing Google Earth fans.  Have fun exploring the world at a faster pace.

UPDATE: Google Earth 5.1 is now out of beta, and as yet another post on the LatLong Blog explains, "This release also includes the Google Earth browser plug-in for Mac users . . ."

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