Change placemark altitudes

You can assign more accurate altitudes for your saved locations, called placemarks, in Google Earth for your computer. You can change altitudes for a single placemark or all placemarks in a folder.

Note: Folders can have placemarks with different altitude settings. In this case, the folder's altitude setting shows as "Mixed Modes."

Altitude settings for placemarks

• Clamped to ground: Altitude is locked to the ground level. You can’t enter an "Altitude" height for this setting.
• Clamped to sea floor: Altitude is locked to the sea floor. You can’t enter an "Altitude" height for this setting.
• Relative to ground: Altitude is relative to the ground elevation.
• Relative to sea floor: Altitude is relative to the sea floor.
• Absolute: Altitude is relative to sea level.

Change altitude settings

1. Open Google Earth.
2. In the left panel under "My Places," right-click the placemark whose altitude you want to change.
   • Windows, Linux: Click Properties Altitude. In the "Edit Placemark/Folder" window, choose an altitude setting. For example, select Clamped to ground or Relative to ground.
   • Mac: Click Get Info  Altitude. Then, choose an altitude setting.
3. You can enter a value in meters in the "Altitude" field for any setting except Clamped to ground and Clamped to sea floor.

To compare different altitudes: Tilt the view and turn terrain on and off.