Google Earth also features many layers as a source for information on
businesses and points of interest, as well as showcasing the contents of many
communities, such as Wikipedia, Panoramio and YouTube. Google updates with new layers often. Many Google
Earth layers, such as Panoramio and Google Earth Community layers, are updated
daily with entries from the respective websites.
Borders and labels
Contains borders for countries/provinces and shows placemarks for cities and
towns.
- Borders: Marks
international borders with a thick yellow line (borders with territorial disputes with thick
red lines), 1st level administrative borders (generally provinces
and states) with a lavender line, and 2nd level
administrative borders (counties) with a cyan
line. Coastlines appear as a thin yellow line. Displays names of countries,
1st level administrative areas, and islands.
- Labels: Displays
labels for large bodies of water, such as oceans, seas, and bays, and
populated places.
Places of interest
A collection of business listings provided by many local services.
Panoramio
Shows many of the most relevant pictures uploaded onto Panoramio's website.
Roads
Displays available road networks. The colors and signs displayed vary
depending on the type of roadway.
- Limited-access freeways and
tollways
that are part of widespread networks such as the International E-road network,
United States Interstate Highways and many other
national road networks are represented by orange lines.
- Other
freeways are marked with pale orange lines.
- Some
roads in Japan are indigo.
- Other
important roads, generally those most travelled, highest capacity, or
bearing a road number, are labeled with yellow lines.
- All other
roads are labeled white.
- Some pedestrian
walkways and private roads are signified by transparent white lines,
especially when greatly resembling a road intended for public automotive
traffic.
Buildings in 3D
Further information: SketchUp, Google Building Maker, and Google 3D Warehouse
Shows many 3D computer building
models in many cities, in these styles:
- Photorealistic:
Shows many buildings in a realistic style, with more complex polygons
and surface images.
- Gray: Low-detail
models of city buildings designed for computers that may not have the
capability of showing the photorealistic models.
Any real world building can be created for Google Earth via a number of
avenues:
- Users can
create their own 3D buildings with Building Maker. This browser based tool
allows users to match 'boxes' to aerial imagery of certain cities. Low
learning curve resulting in lower quality 3D buildings.
- Users can
download SketchUp
a 3D modeling application that allows users to create detailed digital
representations of real world buildings. Provided the models meet Google's
criteria, they can then be uploaded to the 3D warehouse and accepted to
Google Earth
- There are
now several companies, certified by Google,[101]
that provide a service creating and maintaining 3D buildings for
customers. These companies generally provide high detail models.
In 2009, in a unique collaboration between Google and the Museo
del Prado in Madrid,
the museum selected 14 of its most important paintings to be photographed and
displayed at the ultrahigh resolution of 14,000 megapixels
inside the 3D version of the Prado in Google Earth and Google Maps.[102][103]
In June 2012, Google announced that it will be replacing user made 3D
buildings with an auto-generated 3D mesh. This will be phased in, starting with
the larger cities. The reason given is to have greater uniformity in 3D
buildings, and to compete with other platforms already using the technology
such as Nokia's HERE maps and Apple's iOS maps.
Locations available with the auto-generated 3D mesh:
Country
|
Cities
|
Australia
|
Adelaide, Canberra, Perth
|
Austria
|
Innsbruck, Linz
|
Belgium
|
Mons
|
Brazil
|
Brazilia, Porto
Alegre
|
Canada
|
Edmonton, Winnipeg
|
France
|
Angers, Avignon, Bastia, Besançon, Béziers, Bourges, Colmar,
Dijon, Grenoble, Lille, Lyon, Marseille, Mulhouse, Nancy,
Nîmes, Paris, Pau, Perpignan, Rennes, Valence
|
Germany
|
Karlsruhe, Leipzig, Mannheim, Munich, Ulm
|
Italy
|
Cagliari, Catania, Livorno, Messina, Modena,
Naples, Oristano, Padua, Pisa, Rome (including Vatican
City), Sassari, Siena
|
Japan
|
Chiba,
Kanagawa, Sendai, Tokyo
|
Mexico
|
Mazatlán
|
Romania
|
Bucharest
|
Spain
|
Baiona, Burgos, Lleida, Lugo, Manresa, Pamplona, San
Sebastian, Santander, Tarragona
|
Sweden
|
Malmö
|
Switzerland
|
Basel,
Berne, Biel, Geneva, Lausanne, Nyon, Thun, Zurich
|
United
Kingdom
|
Birmingham, Bradford, Cardiff, Leeds, Newcastle-upon-Tyne, Reading,
Telford, Wolverhampton
|
Country
|
State
|
Cities
|
United
States
|
Alabama
|
Birmingham
|
Arizona
|
Phoenix, Prescott, Tucson
|
Arkansas
|
Little Rock
|
California
|
Anaheim, Barstow, Berkeley, Cathedral City, Chico, Corona, Crestline, Delano,
Desert Hot Springs, Escondido,
Fremont,
Hanford,
Hayward,
Healdsburg,
Helendale, Indio, Los
Angeles, Long Beach, Madera,
Merced,
Modesto, Oakland, Ojai,
Palm Springs, Redding, Sacramento,
San Diego,
San
Francisco, San Jose, San
Rafael, Santa Ana, Santa Cruz, Twentynine Palms, Yuba City
|
Colorado
|
Denver, Grand Junction, Boulder
|
Florida
|
Miami,
Orlando,
Tampa
|
Georgia
|
Athens, Atlanta, Macon
|
Idaho
|
Idaho Falls, Pocatello
|
Illinois
|
Chicago, Danville
|
Indiana
|
Anderson, Bloomington, Fort Wayne,
Indianapolis,
Evansville,
Kokomo,
Michigan City, Plainfield, Terre
Haute
|
Iowa
|
Dubuque, Sioux City,
Ames,
Waterloo,
Cedar Falls
|
Kansas
|
Lawrence, Topeka,
Wichita
|
Louisiana
|
New Orleans
|
Massachusetts
|
Boston, Hyannis
|
Michigan
|
Detroit
|
Missouri
|
Jefferson City, Kansas City, St
Louis, Springfield,
|
Minnesota
|
Duluth, Mankato
|
Mississippi
|
Jackson
|
Montana
|
Billings, Great Falls, Missoula
|
Nevada
|
Boulder City, Reno
|
New Jersey
|
Bayonne, Hoboken, Jersey City, Newark,
Union City
|
New Mexico
|
Albuquerque, Farmington,
Las
Cruces
|
New York
|
Albany, Buffalo, New
York City, Utica
|
North Carolina
|
Charlotte
|
North Dakota
|
Bismarck, Grand Forks
|
Ohio
|
Cincinnati, Cleveland
|
Oklahoma
|
Lawton
|
Oregon
|
Portland
|
Pennsylvania
|
Philadelphia, Pittsburgh
|
Texas
|
Austin, Dallas, Houston, Killeen,
Odessa,
San Angelo, San Antonio,
Victoria
|
South Dakota
|
Rapid City
|
Utah
|
Logan, St
George, Salt Lake City
|
Vermont
|
Burlington
|
Virginia
|
Lynchburg
|
Washington
|
Longview, Seattle, Spokane
|
Wisconsin
|
Eau Claire, Fond du Lac, Janesville, La Crosse, Racine, Sheboygan
|
Wyoming
|
Casper, Cheyenne
|
Google Street View
Main article: Google Street View
Weather
- Clouds –
Displays cloud cover based on data from both geostationary and low
Earth-orbiting satellites.
The clouds appear at their calculated elevation, determined by measuring
the cloud top temperature relative to surface temperature.[104]
- Radar –
Displays weather radar data provided by weather.com and Weather Services
International, updating every 5–6 minutes.[104]
- Conditions
and Forecast – Displays local temperatures and weather conditions.
Clicking on an indicator displays a 2 Day Forecast (Example: Monday
Morning, Monday Night, Tuesday Morning, Tuesday Night) forecast provided
by weather.com.[104]
- Information –
Clicking Information allows users to further read up on where Google
Earth gets weather information.[104]
Gallery
- Ancient
Rome: Launched by Google on November 12, 2008.
- Discovery Networks: Shows geographical
information from the Discovery Channel.
- European Space Agency: Shows many satellite images taken of Earth.
- Gigapan
Photos: Images from Google's Gigapan project.
- Gigapxl
Photos: Photographs taken using Gigapxl.
- Google Book Search: An application of
the Google Book search in Google Earth.
- Google
Earth Community: User developed content hosted on Google's official
Google Earth Community Forum.
- Google
News: Shows news stories from many worldwide news sources.
- NASA: A
showcase of many satellite images, overlays and features from NASA.
- National Geographic
magazine: Shows many features from the National Geographic Magazine.
- New
York Times: A collection of news stories from the popular New York
City newspaper.
- Rumsey
Historical Maps: Shows a collection of historic maps, dating back to
the 1600s.
- Travel and Tourism
- Trimble
Outdoor Trips: A collection of hiking
trails with recordings.
- Volcanoes
- Webcams.travel:
A collection of webcams around the world
- YouTube: A
collection of popular videos on YouTube.
Global awareness
A collection of services spreading global awareness. The layer was provided
by Google Earth Outreach.
Ocean
Placemarks and overlays
|
|