What changed—and what did not

Google has stated that the legacy Google Earth Pro desktop app will no longer be available for new downloads beginning 25 June 2027. People who already have Earth Pro installed can continue using it. Google is steering new and returning users toward Google Earth on the web and mobile for what it calls the best Earth experience.

That distinction matters. Early headlines framed the change as Earth Pro being “killed” or fully discontinued. The wording in Google’s Earth Help Community notice is narrower: a download cutoff, not an immediate shutdown of installed copies. Android Authority reported on 8 July 2026 that Google confirmed existing installs keep functioning after the deadline—no new downloads, not an instant kill switch.

For GIS developers, analysts, journalists, and civic technologists who still treat Earth Pro as the free default for KML/KMZ overlays, “My Places,” and large local layers, the practical question is not whether to panic. It is whether you can still obtain an installer before June 2027, what work lives only inside Earth Pro, and how to re-home that work in formats that travel across tools.

You have roughly eleven months from mid-2026 coverage of the notice. Use them for inventory and export—not for last-minute scrambling.

What Google’s notice actually says

From the official Google Earth Team message on the support thread:

New desktop downloads stop on 25 June 2027.
Already-installed Earth Pro can continue to be used.
Google encourages web and mobile for the primary Earth experience.
For KML/KMZ and “My Places,” Google points users at migration guidance aimed at web and mobile reuse rather than at a new desktop successor.

Google’s notice also lists web capabilities it presents as equivalent or better (historical Street View, measurement tools, environment data catalog, project sharing/editing, and AI-powered features, among others). Those are Google’s product claims, not independent audits. Treat them as marketing and documentation claims until you validate them against your own files.

What the short notice does not fully spell out—and what secondary coverage sometimes overstates—includes long-term security patching after the download deadline, Apple Silicon / future macOS behavior, and any paid Earth web tiers. Those items need separate verification on official product pages before you plan around them. See the review notes at the end of this draft.

Why KML-heavy workflows feel the impact first

Earth Pro became a habit for many practitioners because it was free, offline-capable once installed, and friendly to:

Placemarks, paths, and polygons with balloon HTML
Nested folders and “My Places” collections
KMZ packages (KML plus images and other assets)
Quick visual QA of field data, newsroom graphics, and civic overlays on a globe

Journalists often keep story archives as KMZ. Civic technologists share neighborhood boundaries or infrastructure layers as KML. Analysts still receive partner data as Google Earth exports. None of that work is worthless after June 2027—but new machines, wiped laptops, and new team members will not be able to download the desktop installer after the cutoff. Existing installs are not a permanent staffing or hardware strategy.

The durable move is to treat KML/KMZ as an exchange format, not as a silo that only one free desktop app can open.

Inventory checklist (do this before you migrate)

Work through this in order. The goal is a complete export of anything you cannot recreate from another system of record.

1. Capture installers while they still exist

If your organization still depends on Earth Pro for training, offline demos, or legacy file review, download and archive installers for the platforms you support—before 25 June 2027. Store them under your normal software-asset policy. This does not extend Google’s product roadmap; it only preserves your ability to reinstall what Google still allows today.

2. Export “My Places” and every critical KMZ

In Earth Pro, systematically save:

Top-level “My Places” (or named folders) as KML or KMZ
Network links you actually rely on (note the remote URLs separately)
Super-overlays and image-heavy KMZ packages
Any layers that exist only as Earth Pro projects and not in a GIS database

Prefer KMZ when balloons reference local images or other assets. Prefer plain KML when you want text-diffable, easy-to-inspect geometry.

3. Record non-geometry context

KML is more than coordinates. Document:

Balloon HTML templates and field-to-HTML mappings
Folder structure and naming conventions
Time spans / tour content if you use them
CRS assumptions (KML is lon/lat WGS 84; note if source data was reprojected poorly)
Licensing and attribution for basemaps and third-party overlays

4. Classify each layer by destination

Layer type	Likely next home
Simple placemarks, paths, polygons for web maps	GeoJSON / vector tiles / hosted vector layers
Heavy analysis, topology, CRS work	Desktop GIS (e.g. QGIS)
Globe browsing, Street View, historical imagery exploration	Google Earth web/mobile
Large multi-folder archives	Split by theme; convert subsets; keep master KMZ offline
Authoritative production data	Database or versioned GeoPackage/GeoJSON in your stack—not only Earth

5. Spot-check round-trips early

Convert a small representative sample first (one folder of points, one multipolygon layer, one KMZ with images). Open the result in your target tools. Fix schema and geometry issues before batch-converting a multi-year archive.

Google Earth web: useful, but not a drop-in desktop replacement

Google positions web and mobile Earth as the path forward for KML/KMZ reuse. For many casual viewers that will be enough: open a file, fly to a place, share a project.

Professional KML users on the same support thread and in secondary coverage have reported friction with large KML and attribute display. Comments commonly cite a rough ~250,000 vertex ceiling and weak support for rich attribute tables. These are user reports, not confirmed product specifications from Google’s formal documentation in the sources reviewed for this draft. Do not treat them as hard limits until you verify against current Earth web docs or your own tests.

Practical implication: if your daily work is multi-hundred-thousand-vertex boundaries, dense GPS traces, or attribute-heavy inspection, plan a desktop GIS or browser vector editor path for those files even if you keep Earth web for globe exploration.

Industry write-ups such as TechRadar’s coverage and practitioner blogs like GeoPera’s summary capture the community reaction; always prefer Google’s primary thread for policy language.

Keep work portable: KML → open vectors

The lowest-regret strategy is format portability:

Export authoritative layers from Earth Pro as KML/KMZ now.
Convert geometry and properties into formats your stack already understands—commonly GeoJSON for web maps, or GeoPackage/Shapefile for desktop GIS.
Store masters in version control or object storage with a README (source, date, CRS, license).
Publish subsets as web layers; do not require colleagues to install a sunset-bound desktop binary to view a boundary file.

Minimal conversion mental model

KML Placemark with Point → GeoJSON Point feature
LineString / Polygon / MultiGeometry → matching GeoJSON geometry types
Extended data / SimpleData → feature properties
Folder hierarchy → either flat features with a folder property or separate files per theme

Nested styles, tours, and photo overlays rarely survive a naïve convert. Expect to rebuild cartography in the destination tool.

Desktop alternative worth scheduling

In the same window as Earth Pro coverage, the OSGeo community noted QGIS 4.2 “Belém do Pará” (released 3 July 2026) as the next long-term release (LTR) via Planet OSGeo. QGIS is a free desktop GIS that can open KML/KMZ and handle serious editing, CRS work, and print layouts. For unrestricted desktop KML/GIS after Earth Pro downloads stop, QGIS is a standard open option—verify features against qgis.org release notes for your exact needs. It is complementary to Earth web, not a clone of Google’s globe product.

A modest browser step for KML/GeoJSON inspection

When the job is open a KML or GeoJSON file, inspect features on a map, lightly edit geometry or properties, and export GeoJSON, a browser-based editor can sit in the middle of a multi-tool stack—especially for journalists and civic technologists who do not want a full desktop GIS open for every small fix.

GeoJSON Cloud is one such option: it can open common geospatial formats (including GeoJSON and KML among others), show features on an interactive map, support drawing/editing workflows, and export GeoJSON (with additional export formats depending on plan). That is useful for portable vector cleanup and web-ready export. It is not a replacement for Google Earth Pro’s 3D globe, historical imagery, Street View, offline installer model, or Google’s environment catalog. Browser memory and file-size limits still apply; very large KMZ archives and full topology/CRS remediation belong in desktop GIS.

Example lightweight workflow:

Export a thematic folder from Earth Pro as KML/KMZ.
Open the file in a browser editor or convert to GeoJSON.
Drop unused properties, fix obvious geometry issues, rename fields for your CMS or MapLibre/Leaflet app.
Export GeoJSON and commit it beside the original KMZ master.
Keep QGIS (or another desktop GIS) for bulk processing and Earth web/mobile for globe browsing.

Ninety-day action plan

If Earth Pro still sits on your critical path:

This week: Read Google’s primary support-thread notice; list every team machine that still needs an installer.
This month: Export all “My Places” and production KMZ; store masters offline with metadata.
This quarter: Pilot conversion of your three most important layers to GeoJSON or GeoPackage; open them in the tools you actually publish with.
Before June 2027: Confirm new-hire and spare-laptop procedures no longer depend on downloading Earth Pro; document the open-format path.

Closing

Google’s change is a download policy with a clear date—25 June 2027—and a clear assurance that existing Earth Pro installs can keep running. It is not automatically the end of KML, nor a mandate to adopt any single commercial web product. The resilient response for web-mapping practitioners is boring and effective: inventory, export, convert to open vectors, and split globe browsing from serious GIS editing.

Sources and further reading

Google Earth Help Community — Google Earth Team notice on desktop downloads
User discussion on the same thread (large KML / attributes)
Android Authority — reporting and confirmation that existing installs continue (8 July 2026)
TechRadar — industry and user reaction
GeoPera — workflow-oriented secondary summary (9 July 2026)
Planet OSGeo — QGIS 4.2 LTR note
GeoJSON Cloud editor (browser open/inspect/edit/export; not an Earth Pro substitute)