Google has officially announced that Google Earth can be accessed from the iPhone or the iPod Touch. When a good data connection is available the geographical software streams to the device with a reasonable speed and it’s really functional. Multi-touch enables users to zoom in or out of a map with ease and even rotate the map on the screen. Furthermore, a compass in the corner helps keep your bearings. Tilting the phone will change the angle of the view in order to observe the topology of the current terrain. “My Location” feature will give your exact location on Earth.

Google has also incorporated its search engine to find information on the surrounding area and built in Panoramio and Wikipedia, for articles and pictures from near your current area. It’s certainly a great difference between Google Earth and the application released by Earthscape last May, which is now a free app too. Google Earth for the iPhone has a small Webkit-based browser to show the specific informations users click on. In addition, the app includes a link to the Safari browser Apple built into the iPhone.

The Google Earth and Google Maps applications for the iPhone and the iPod Touch are available starting today and they’re free from the App Store. The programs support all 18 languages that the iPhone supports and it will gradually be released for 22 countries. Google is working on a similar app for T-Mobile's Android, but a release date has yet to be announced. More features, like integration of 3D buildings and advanced mapping functionalities, are in the pipeline.