Yes it is and you need to seek permission.

http://www.google.com/permissions/geoguidelines.html

Having said that....
I've used Camtasia in the past for this. Find your position, and zoom in/out a few times so the computer picks up and 'remembers' the track before you record. I found that you get better control when zooming OUT so I did a zoom OUT and simply reversed the video on the time line.

thanks for that....

and i'll certainly look into the copyright angle if i can get a decent recording in the first place.....

leslie

well, read through briefly -

Online video: You do not need permission to create and display video created from Google Maps or Google Earth in a video, whether hosted on your own site or through a service such as YouTube. You must purchase a copy of Google Earth Pro if exporting motion video, because screen capturing is not allowed. As with all uses, you must have proper attribution for Content as described above.

I used Google Earth Pro, because a client wanted the fly in etc. It was well worth it as you can plot your projects and pans within it and it save them for the future and outputs to avi. The price was for only LEASING it for a year though.
Didn't renew, but when another client who starts jumping up and down wanting to fly into his business....well I'd purchase again.
Just like fades and wipes though, you see it everywhere now.


Cheers

Too bad about the permission. I didn't know that when I used Google Earth as part of an animation for an opera production (Don Giovanni). I first tried the trial version of Google Earth Pro, but it watermarked the video with "Trial Version". Went with a primitive shareware screen capture program, AviScreen Classic, that ran at about 4 fps, so programmed a very slow GE tour.

The happy result is here:

I use WorldWind by NASA. Do a google search for it.

Fraps