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What datum (reference ellipsoid) does Google Earth[1] use?

I can't seem to find where Google Earth tells explicitly what datum they use. I need some sort of valid link.

[1] The default free version that you download from Google.

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2 Answers

up vote 9 down vote accepted

WGS84, according to:

http://support.google.com/earth/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=148110

Cheers, Ryan

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Is it important for this question, that the geoid they use is not a perfect WGS84 geoid, but an EGM96 geoid which is a sphere? groups.google.com/forum/?fromgroups=#!msg/kml-support-advanced/… – Matthias Kuhn Apr 23 at 7:18
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It is NAD27, according to google support: http://support.google.com/earth/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=148110

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This is incorrect. The page you link to explicitly states: "Google Earth uses Simple Cylindrical projection with a WGS84 datum for its imagery base." – Fezter Apr 23 at 6:46

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