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 Earth data.

1. On your computer, open Google Earth.
2. 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.

1. On your computer, open Google Earth.
2. On the left, click Map Style .
3. Turn on Gridlines.

To turn 3D buildings and trees on or off:

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

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.
2. On the left, click Menu Settings.
3. Under "Memory cache size," choose a size:
   • To load images more quickly, increase the cache size.
     Tip: It's easier to increase the cache size on newer devices.
   • If you have a slower computer, you can lower the cache size and load images more slowly.
     ​Tip: This may make Google Earth run more smoothly.
4. Click Save.