Discover places and change your view

You can use Google Earth to travel the world and explore new places. You'll find exotic cities, landmarks in 3D, and buildings up close.

Learn how to experience places in Street View.

Tips:

  • Not all Google Earth locations can be seen in 3D.
  • To understand where the map images come from, learn how Google creates 3D imagery for Google Earth.
  1. On your computer, open Google Earth app Google Earth.
  2. Click Explore Earth to view the globe.
  3. Choose an action:
    • To find a specific place, click Search.
    • Move around: Drag with your mouse.
    • Zoom in and out: At the bottom right, use +/- or right drag the mouse.
    • Explore around your location: Hold Ctrl + drag the screen.

To learn more about keyboard shortcuts, go to the home screen, then go to Help  >  Keyboard shortcuts.

Turn on latitude & longitude gridlines

You can turn on gridlines to learn about geographic coordinates and get your approximate location on the Earth's surface.

  • On your computer, open Google Earth app Google Earth.
  • On the left, click Layers.
  • Turn on Gridlines.

Show 3D imagery

To turn 3D buildings and trees on or off:

  1. On your computer, open Google Earth app Google Earth.
  2. On the left, click Layers.
  3. Turn 3D buildings on or off.

Change the view

  • Switch between top-down view and orbiting 3D view: At the bottom right, click 3D imagery mode 3D. If you're already in 3D view, you'll find 2D instead.
  • Reset your globe to face true north: At the bottom right, click the compass.
  • Fly to your current location: At the bottom right, click My Location.

Choose your map style

  1. Click Layers.
  2. Choose a view:
    • Clean: Imagery only — no borders, labels or roads.
    • Exploration: Imagery plus most places of interest, like borders, labels, and roads.
    • Everything: All of the above plus landmarks, businesses, public transit, and more.
    • Custom: Choose which features you want to find when you use Google Earth.

Troubleshoot places that load slowly

Sometimes, places take time to show in Google Earth. To experience Earth images on your device more quickly, you may need to change your image quality settings.

  1. On your computer, open Google Earth app Google Earth.
  2. On the left, click Menu  >  Settings.
  3. Under "Rendering quality," choose a size.
  4. Click Done.