Google Earth's versions
Google Earth comes in three forms. Google Earth on the web (earth.google.com) runs in Chrome, Edge and Firefox with nothing to install, and includes 3D buildings, Street View and Voyager tours. The mobile app for Android and iPhone gives the same experience on a phone or tablet. Google Earth Pro is the classic desktop program for Windows, Mac and Linux, and it's free.
Most people only need the web version or the app. Google Earth Pro is the one to download for historical imagery, measuring, importing GIS data and printing high-resolution images.
What you can do with it
Google Earth is used for travel planning, school projects, research and simple curiosity:
- Fly to any place on Earth in 3D, with buildings and terrain in many cities.
- Drop into Street View to look around at street level.
- Look at historical imagery in Google Earth Pro, often going back decades, to see how a place has changed.
- Measure distances and areas, which is useful for land, gardens and planning a route.
- Create projects with your own places, lines, photos and notes, and share them as a presentation.
Installing Google Earth Pro
Download Google Earth Pro from Google's Earth versions page (the button above). On Windows, run the installer; on Mac, open the .dmg file and run the installer inside it. It doesn't need a licence key: the old paid Pro licence was made free years ago.
Earth Pro works best with a dedicated graphics card or a recent integrated one. If the globe is black or flickers, update your graphics drivers, or switch to the web version in Chrome.
What's the difference between Google Earth and Google Maps?
Google Maps is for getting somewhere: directions, traffic, public transport, business hours and reviews. Google Earth is for exploring: it has no turn-by-turn navigation, but it has richer 3D views, tours and historical imagery. Many people have both: Maps for daily use and Earth for planning and discovery.
Google Earth on a phone
The mobile app adds a few things the desktop doesn't have: drag with two fingers to tilt into 3D, and tap the dice for I'm Feeling Lucky, which takes you to a random interesting place with a short story about it. Voyager has hundreds of guided tours made with partners like NASA and national parks, and they're a favourite for teachers and students.
Imagery and 3D data stream as you look around, so Earth uses a lot of mobile data. Use Wi-Fi for long sessions.
How current is the imagery?
Satellite and aerial imagery isn't live. Cities are typically updated every one to three years, and remote areas less often. In Google Earth Pro, the clock icon in the toolbar shows the date of the imagery you're looking at and lets you scroll back through older images. For live conditions, like weather or traffic, use a weather service or Google Maps instead.
Using Google Earth for school and work
Teachers use Google Earth projects to build geography and history lessons with placemarks, images and text that students explore themselves. Students use it for presentations: Present mode turns a project into a slideshow that flies between places. Estate agents, architects and outdoor planners use Earth Pro to measure land, check slopes with the elevation profile and print maps for reports. All of these features are free.
System requirements
Google Earth on the web needs a recent Chrome, Edge, Firefox or Opera and a computer with hardware graphics acceleration turned on. The mobile app needs a reasonably recent Android or iOS version. Google Earth Pro runs on Windows, macOS and Linux, and benefits from a dedicated graphics card and at least 4 GB of memory. On older computers, turning off 3D buildings in the Layers panel makes everything much smoother.
Is Google Earth free?
Yes. All three versions of Google Earth are free, including Google Earth Pro, which used to cost $399 a year and was made free in 2015. There's no paid tier for personal use. Be careful with websites and app listings that charge for Google Earth or bundle it with other software; get it only from Google's own pages and the official app stores.