Telecom and fibre
The vendor sends the whole build as one KMZ. You need the route, the splice points and what it crosses, today, without standing up a GIS to do it.
In development. Early access opening soon
The high-performance
The high-performance
Google Earth Pro replacement.
Mac, Windows and Linux.
Earth Pro is ending on macOS, and on Windows and Linux it still crawls through the files that matter. OpnEarth is a desktop globe for KML and KMZ. Drag a file in and it opens straight away, including the ones that stop everything else. No project file, no projection dialog, and nothing to set up.
macOS 13+, Windows 11 and Linux. No spam, just one email when the beta opens. On a Mac?
OpnEarth · national_broadband.kmz
Instant
Drag to drawn
The file is drawn by the time you let go of it, and reopening is quicker still.
Any size
Files, not samples
The big vendor exports open like small ones, and no plan caps what you can open.
Zero
Setup steps
No project, no CRS dialog, no styling session.
100%
Offline capable
Your files never leave the machine unless you publish.
Who it is for
If somebody emails you a map, this is for you
Four kinds of work with the same problem. The file arrives from someone else, it is bigger than the tool you have, and you need to look at it today.
Civil engineering and surveying
Corridors, site plans and as-builts that have to be readable by people who do not have a GIS licence and are never going to get one.
Utilities and pipelines
Network geometry you are not allowed to upload anywhere. It opens on your machine, and that is where it stays.
Government and broadband programs
Coverage and funding maps at provincial scale, including the public datasets that stall every other viewer.
In one paragraph
What OpnEarth is, plainly
OpnEarth is a desktop globe for Mac, Windows and Linux, built for very large KMZ files. It opens .kml and .kmz files, draws them on a 3D globe with the author's own KML styling, and gives you real tools for the data inside: measure, elevation profile, attribute table, search and filter, export. Local files open with no network at all. Publishing a map is explicit, per-map, and uploads derived tiles rather than your source file.
Two boundaries, stated up front: it is not a way to get Google's imagery (licensed data no product can legally reproduce), and it is not a GIS. Geoprocessing and projection work sit outside what OpnEarth does, and its exports drop straight into whatever you already use for them.
Compare
OpnEarth vs Earth Pro, Earth Web and QGIS
Earth Pro was never the best GIS. It was the only thing that opened a huge KMZ in ten seconds with no setup. That is precisely the job OpnEarth takes over.
| OpnEarth | Earth Pro | Earth Web | QGIS | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Platform in 2026 | Native on all three | Ending on macOS | Browser only | Native |
| Large vendor KMZ | Built for it | Minutes, or a stall | Chokes on large files | Slow import |
| Steps to first view | Drag the file in | Drag the file in | Upload, wait | Import, CRS, style |
| Keeps the sender's KML styling | Yes: styles, StyleMaps, balloons | Yes | Partly | Needs restyling |
| Works with no connection | Yes, by design | Partly | No | Yes |
| Share without sending the file | Published tiles + comments | No | No | No |
| Geoprocessing & projections | Not what this is for | Limited | No | Best in class |
Comparisons describe the “open a KMZ a vendor emailed you” task on Mac, Windows or Linux. OpnEarth is built for opening, reading and sharing these files, not for editing them.
Speed
Fast enough that you stop planning around it
No more opening the big file before lunch and hoping. No more "can you send me a screenshot instead". You double-click, and the map is there.
Opens before you let go of the mouse
Drop in the file that takes your current tool three minutes. It draws in less than one second.
Your machine stays usable
A whole province of fiber routes costs about as much memory as a few browser tabs. Keep your email open.
Smooth at full detail
Pan and zoom a hundred thousand shapes without thinning the data or hiding layers to keep it moving.
Instant the second time
Reopen a file you were just looking at and it is already on screen, camera and layers exactly where you left them.
The files that matter in real work are the ones every other viewer stalls on: a vendor export with tens of thousands of shapes in it, or a single feature complicated enough to lock up a browser tab. Those are the files OpnEarth is built for, and it opens them without a progress bar. The benchmark ships with the code, so you can run it on your own files rather than take our word for it.
Platform
Three ways to use your maps
Desktop that doesn't flinch
A native globe on Mac, Windows and Linux, for files that make other tools hang. Streaming ingest, GPU-batched rendering, and a parse cache so the second open is instant. Measure distances and areas, profile elevation along a route, search and filter across hundreds of thousands of features.
Free for personal useShare the map, not the file
Email a customer a link. They open it in a browser, with no install and no account, and see the route, never your dataset, because what gets published is rendered tiles rather than source. Cap the zoom, strip attributes, reduce precision, set an expiry. Then let them pin a comment and review it with you.
TeamAsk your maps questions
An MCP endpoint over your published maps, so Claude or ChatGPT can answer “which routes pass within 500 m of this address?” against your real data. Connect the assistant you already pay for. Every query is scoped, capped, and logged for your own compliance review.
EnterpriseSee it before you install it
Nineteen seconds on what changes when Earth Pro goes, and what opens your files afterwards.
Pricing
Free for people, paid for companies
Opening large files and full rendering fidelity are never paywalled. That's a product rule, not an introductory offer. Prices are provisional until launch.
Personal
Free forever
For individuals, non-commercial use
- Open any KMZ or KML, any size, no cap
- Full rendering fidelity: styles, folders, balloons
- 3D globe, tilt and satellite basemaps
- One file open at a time
- Non-commercial use only
Recommended
Pro
$299 CAD per user / year
7 day free trial, then billed yearly. Cancel during the trial and you are not charged.
For professionals doing real work
- Everything in Personal, licensed for commercial use
- Open unlimited files at once, with saved workspaces
- Measure distance, area and elevation profile
- Attribute tables, search and filter across the whole dataset
- Export to GeoJSON and KML
- Batch command-line conversion
- Bring your own imagery and elevation data
- If you don't renew, you keep the last version you paid for
Team
$500 CAD per user / year
7 day free trial, then billed yearly. Cancel during the trial and you are not charged.
For teams that share maps with customers
Minimum 3 users
- Everything in Pro
- Publish a map and share by link or email, recipients need no account
- Share the map, not the file: redact zoom, attributes and precision
- Access control, link expiry, and a record of exactly what was disclosed
- Pinned comments and review threads
- Shared workspaces
- Priority support
Enterprise
Custom quote
For regulated environments
- Everything in Team
- Self-hosted deployment
- SSO (SAML and OIDC), SCIM provisioning, audit log export
- MCP endpoint: connect your own Claude or ChatGPT
- Security review, DPA and SLA
- Invoicing, purchase orders, multi-year terms
FAQ
Straight answers
Including the two things we will not pretend about: Google's imagery, and what a GIS is for.
What replaces Google Earth Pro?+
OpnEarth, for the specific job most people used Earth Pro for: opening a large KML or KMZ and looking at it. It draws hundreds of megabytes of KML in under a second, keeps the author's styling, and needs no project file, projection dialog or connection. On macOS it replaces an app Google is ending; on Windows and Linux it replaces one that still opens but stalls. It does not carry Google's satellite imagery, and no third party legally can.
Is Earth Pro slow on Windows and Linux too?+
Yes. That is the other half of why OpnEarth exists. Earth Pro is single-threaded through KML parsing and builds one object per feature, so a KMZ holding hundreds of megabytes of KML can take minutes, hold a multi-gigabyte working set, and stutter while you navigate. OpnEarth streams the archive, stores geometry columnar, and batches draw calls by style. All three platforms are first-class targets, none is a port.
Is it easier than QGIS for opening a KMZ?+
For that task, yes. QGIS is a full GIS: an import dialog, layer and projection handling, and a styling session before the file looks like what the sender saw, and very large KMZ files load slowly. In OpnEarth you drag the file onto the window and it draws. Geoprocessing, topology and projections sit outside what OpnEarth does, and its exports drop straight into whatever you already use for them.
How large a file can it open?+
Bigger than anything a vendor is likely to send you, and no plan caps it. The files that break other viewers are the ones this was built for. If you want measured numbers rather than the claim, the benchmark ships with the code and runs on your own files.
Does it have Google's satellite imagery?+
You bring your own, and that turns out to be the better answer. OpnEarth ships with open, commercially licensable imagery and elevation, and you can mount your own orthophotography or any imagery you already licence, so what you are looking at is imagery you control. Google's own imagery is not available to any third-party product, with or without your own API key: their terms do not permit Maps content to be used with a non-Google map, and do not permit caching it for offline use.
Does my data get uploaded anywhere?+
Not unless you publish a map, which is always an explicit, per-map action, never a background sync. Opening and viewing your files needs no connection and sends nothing anywhere. The application does check in periodically to confirm which plan you are on, and that is the only thing it talks to us about.
Does it work offline?+
Your files never touch the network, which is the part that matters when they carry confidential infrastructure geometry: the globe draws with no connection at all. The application itself does check in from time to time to confirm which plan you are on, but nothing about the files you open is ever part of that.
When can I use it?+
It is in active development and there is no public build yet. The ingest engine is built and benchmarked; the application around it is being built. Join the list for one email when the beta opens, and tell us what your files look like so it gets tested against them.
Your KMZ files aren't going anywhere.
Neither should your ability to open them.
Early access opens to the list first. Tell us what you are trying to open and we will test against it.
No spam. One email when the beta opens.