Google Earth is an app for the iPhone and iPod Touch that allows you to do quite a bit with your device. This app has all the same imagery as the desktop version and loads very fast over WiFi. Google Earth has a lot of features to offer including ones that take advantage of the iPhone.

When the app loads up, you can easily search and find any location that Google would have listed and locate it. Google Earth brings you directly to what you searched for and the zooming process is fairly smooth. If you want to see the app locate you, press the locate button in the bottom left of the screen. This will zoom all the way in to where you are and is fairly accurate. If you want to face North, all you have to do is press the compass on the top right of the screen.

The map shows elevation as best it can. While this means you can't exactly see down your street like Google Streetview shows you, there's still plenty of interesting things to see. If you go to Mount Everest in this app and tilt your phone, you'll be able to see it as if you were standing near it. You can still scroll around in this mode too, which adds to some of the excitement that this app brings to the table.

If you're interested in seeing more information about an area, those boxes places all over the map will lead you to Panoramio pictures or geo-tagged Wikipedia articles. This allows you to learn a little bit more about the area you're virtually exploring. Definitely download this app, even if it's just to show off to those few without iPhones.