Google Expands Gemini-Powered AI Features in Google Earth
Key Points
- Google integrates Gemini with multiple Earth AI models (weather, imagery, population).
- Trusted testers can chat with Earth AI and combine personal datasets.
- New queries can identify infrastructure at risk, dust‑storm‑prone communities, and environmental issues like algae blooms.
- U.S. Google AI Pro and Ultra users will receive higher‑limit access to Gemini chat.
- Professional‑plan users in the U.S. will gain access to Gemini‑enabled Earth AI in the coming weeks.
Google is broadening the AI capabilities of Google Earth by integrating its Gemini model to connect multiple geospatial AI models. The upgrade lets trusted testers chat with Earth AI, combine personal data, and query satellite imagery for insights such as infrastructure risk or environmental changes. In the United States, Google AI Pro and Ultra users will soon gain higher‑limit access, and the company plans to open Gemini‑enabled Earth AI to users on professional plans.
Expanded AI Capabilities in Google Earth
Google has announced a significant expansion of artificial‑intelligence features within its Google Earth platform. Building on the chat functionality introduced earlier in the year, the company is now linking its Gemini model with a suite of Earth‑focused AI models, including weather forecasts, satellite imagery, and population maps. This integration enables the system to draw on multiple data sources when answering user queries, making it easier to identify infrastructure vulnerable to an approaching storm, locate communities at risk of dust storms during drought conditions, or detect environmental phenomena such as algae blooms in drinking‑water supplies.
The new Gemini‑driven chat is currently available to participants in Google’s trusted tester program. Testers can not only ask natural‑language questions but also overlay their own datasets onto Google’s existing Earth AI models covering imagery, population statistics, and environmental metrics. This capability allows users to tailor analyses to specific research or operational needs while leveraging Google’s expansive geospatial data.
Access and Availability
In the United States, Google AI Pro and AI Ultra subscribers will soon be able to use the Gemini chat feature with higher usage limits, although the exact limits have not been disclosed. Google also indicated that, in the coming weeks, the company will extend access to Earth AI models equipped with Gemini capabilities to U.S. users who hold professional or professional‑advanced plans for Google Earth. This rollout aims to broaden the reach of the advanced geospatial reasoning framework beyond the trusted tester cohort, offering more users the ability to explore satellite imagery and related data through conversational AI.
The integrated chat experience is designed to help users find objects and patterns within satellite imagery more efficiently. By simply asking the system to locate a specific feature—such as “find algae blooms”—users can receive targeted visual and analytical results without needing to manually sift through large image datasets. Google’s approach reflects its broader strategy of embedding AI across its product portfolio to make complex data more accessible and actionable.