Using Places of Interest (POIs)

This section has tips on using places of interest that aren't covered in Showing and Hiding Places of Interest:

• What's Included in Places of Interest (POIs)?
• Locating POIs in your viewing area
• Saving or copying POIs to My Places Tuning Displays of POIs
• Tuning Displays of POIs

What's Included in Places of Interest (POIs)?

The Places of Interest layer includes the following place categories in one non-expandable layer:

Places

Businesses

Transit Stations

Mountains

Parks and Golf

When you expand the "More" layer, you'll see a sublayer called "Place Categories" which lets you turn on certain place categories individually.

Locating POIs in Your Viewing Area

Follow these steps to find a particular place of interest in your viewing region.

1. Adjust the 3D viewer to surround the area you'd like to investigate. If you want to find all places within a certain area, use one of these methods to adjust the viewer to surround the entire region:
   • Zoom out
   • Expand the size of the viewer by using the maximize window control or by dragging the edge of the window outwards with your mouse


2. Click the "Places of Interest" box to make the places appear in the 3D viewer. If you don't see the POI you're looking for, zoom in a little more, and it should appear.

Each type of place is identified by a unique icon that makes it easy to tell what the type of place is without flying to the place itself. The key below shows what each Place of Interest icon represents:

	Bank
	Bar
	Car dealership
	Car rental
	Car repair
	Coffee shop or bakery
	Daycare
	Dining
	Electronics, computers, etc.
	Fast food
	Gas station
	Gift shop
	Hair care
	Internet service provider or rental establishment
	Jewelry store
	Legal
	Lodging
	Motorcycle
	Music
	Pet-related business
	Photo studio or equipment
	Shopping
	Supermarket
	Swimming
	Tea
	Telecommunications
	Travel agent
	Parking
	Taxi stand
	Truck or SUV dealer
	Baseball
	Fishing
	Campground
	Golf course
	Mountain
	Park
	Rest area
	Soccer or sports complex
	Tennis court or shop
	Winter sports
	Cemetery
	Fire station
	Mosque
	Synagogue
	Temple or place of worship
	Dentist
	Doctor
	Hospital
	Pharmacy
	Veterinarian
	Amusement park
	Aquarium
	Bowling
	Casino
	Fitness
	Movies or rentals
	Music hall or events venue
	Zoo
	Academy or educational institute
	Airport
	Civic building
	Courthouse
	Embassy or government
	Historical place
	Industry
	Library
	Monument
	Museum
	Police
	Post office
	Residential complex
	School
	Stadium
	Tourist destination
	University

Note: Not all icons appear in every country around the globe.

Saving or Copying POIs to My Places

When you want to save a POI for future Google Earth sessions, right-click on a PC or Ctrl+click on a Mac and select Save to My Places from the pop-up menu.

Alternately, right-click and select Copy from the pop-up, mouse over a target folder in the "Places" panel, then right-click and select Paste from the pop-up.

Tuning the Display of POIs

Because Google Earth can deliver hundreds of POIs to a single view, the icons marking them can be modified to make viewing them easier. The most common issues with POI display include:

• A POI doesn't appear over an area where one is expected
• No icons appear at all
• Icons overlap each other, making it hard to see them both

Try the following to resolve the issue:

• Zoom in closer to the region to see if the icon appears. Remember that icons, like road data, appear at different elevations, and not all icons appear from an extended elevation. In addition, zooming in to a lower elevation often resolves the problem of icons that appear to overlap when viewed from a higher elevation.


• Check the streaming meter to make sure downloading is complete. The streaming meter is located at the bottom of the 3D viewer. If you think you're sufficiently zoomed in, but no POI appears, data might still be streaming to your client. Because the Google Earth servers stream imagery, terrain, and other data to your application, sometimes icons don't appear immediately.


• Adjust the icon size. You can change the size of icons from medium to small or large, depending on whether you usually view the Earth from a higher elevation or a lower elevation. To do so, select Options from the "Tools" menu. The icon size is set in the "Labels/Icon size" area. See Viewing Preferences for more details.