Google Earth, which easily wins the award for Best Free Standalone Mapping Tool That’s Ever Existed, introduced a feature in version 6.2 (the latest as of this writing) that’s easy to miss but is very cool – the ability to easily share out screenshots.

You’ve heard not only myself but other authors from PCMech go on about how Google Plus is ultimately forgettable, but this feature actually gives a reason to use it. And even if you don’t, there are other ways to share out GEarth screenshots.

At top right of GEarth there is the option to login with your Google account, which for most of you means your Gmail account credentials. Once you do that, a "Share" button appears. Go to anywhere on the map, click that button, and…

Now that’s cool. If you share it out on G+, it doesn’t get any easier. If you decide to email the image, that may or may not work depending on how you have your email set up. Those using a desktop mail client like Thunderbird or Outlook won’t have a problem, but for webmail, maybe. You’ll have to try it to see if it works for you.

There is still the old method of manually saving a screenshot via File > Save > Save Image and then manually attaching to an email:

…but if you can use the share feature instead, it’s a lot easier to go that route because it is genuinely more convenient than the manual method.

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