• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar

Google Earth Blog

The amazing things about Google Earth

  • Home
  • About
  • Basics
  • Links
  • Tips
  • 3D Models
  • Sightseeing
  • Videos

Using Street View in Google Earth

March 26, 2009

With millions of new people finding out about Street View (thanks to more countries like the UK, Netherlands, Spain, and France getting Street View), it’s time to post a “How To” on using Street View in Google Earth. Street View in Google Earth is a more 3D-like experience than Google Maps. The Google Maps implementation of Street View is in some ways handier – such as the use of Street View with directions, or the ability to embed Street Views on a web site. But, Google Earth has its advantages with Street View as well.
So, how do you use Street View in Google Earth? This “How To” video gives you a good overview of how Street View works and looks in Google Earth:


For those of you who prefer written instructions – read this:


The first thing you’ll need to do is look for the Street View layer on the lower left of Google Earth and turn it on by clicking the little box to the left. Then look for the gold camera icons as you zoom into a street location of interest. If you single-click the left mouse button on a Street View camera icon, you get a placemark that shows the photo. Click the link there to enter the Street View image. Or, double-click to fly straight in.
Street View in Google Earth uses the special Photo Viewer tool which lets you pan around the inside of a 3D projected photo. Street View images are spherical panoramas allowing you to look around 360 degrees side-to-side and up-down. You can even see the spherical Street View photos as you zoom in close over a street. With Google Earth, you can adjust the transparency of the images and compare the background 3D terrain or 3D buildings (if available) and see that the Street View photos match the surrounding area. You can also turn on other layers such as the Geographic Web (including photos), Roads, Dining, Lodging, etc. to get more information on an area.
So, get out there and explore the millions of Street View images already available in several countries: US, France, Spain, Japan, Australia, Italy, New Zealand, Netherlands, England, Scotland, and Ireland.
Related:

  • Street View Marriage Proposal
  • Street View User Photos
  • Street View for Tour de France
  • 3D Warehouse Supports Street View

About Frank Taylor

Frank Taylor started the Google Earth Blog in July, 2005 shortly after Google Earth was first released. He has worked with 3D computer graphics and VR for many years and was very impressed with this exciting product. Frank completed a 5.5 year circumnavigation of the earth by sailboat in June 2015 which you can read about at Tahina Expedition, and is a licensed pilot, backpacker, diver, and photographer.

  • More Posts(1963)

Filed Under: 3D Models, Applications, Google Earth News, Google Earth Tips, Sightseeing

Reader Interactions






PLEASE NOTE: Google Earth Blog is no longer writing regular posts. As a result, we are not accepting new comments or questions about Google Earth. If you have a question, use the official Google Earth and Maps Forums or the Google Earth Community Forums.

Comments

  1. MiG says

    March 30, 2009 at 11:47 am

    just looked at some streetview images from Edinburgh, and spotted one of the streetview cars in the images. it seems that google used more than one vehicle to make the images. you can see it at the following location:
    55.949435° -3.192856°
    copy and paste into the “fly to” bar, turn on streetview, zoom down and click the camera icon right next to the location

  2. Greg says

    September 18, 2009 at 11:27 pm

    In July 2009 I was able to get a street view of my Daughters house in Conroe Texas. Now most of the Street View icons in her neighborhood are gone.
    Was there a reason for this?

  3. Niket says

    October 29, 2009 at 8:12 am

    Try to show acurate map streets

  4. Sparky5458 says

    November 22, 2009 at 9:19 am

    I cannot find street view in the layers. Do I need a different version of G/E

  5. Richard says

    January 23, 2010 at 8:32 pm

    I do not have “Street View” on my Google earth. How do I get it?

  6. Sharon Swanson says

    February 12, 2010 at 12:30 am

    I do not have “Street View” on my Google earth Layers panel ??/…How do I get it ???? I am so excited about this …Thank you

  7. Richard says

    April 27, 2010 at 6:33 pm

    Updated to the latest greatest Google Earth and finding it impossible to find street view layer. Its just not there. I am having “fetch” problems and suspect that is why. new router intstalled a week ago swtiched from DSL to Cable. Suspect I might need to make an exception for the firewall for G.E. any idea’s?

  8. Ray says

    June 20, 2010 at 10:10 am

    Google,
    Please provide a way in Google Earth to return to the same satellite view, same angle and same direction after leaving street view. It is so annoying to have to use several commands to return to where you were when browsing down a street.

  9. Escape Lodges says

    July 30, 2010 at 5:35 am

    Love google streets maps, goole earths OK for certain things but street maps the dogs cahoona’s :o)

  10. Anon says

    November 29, 2010 at 4:17 pm

    Same here the Street View check box is GONE..no way to turn this feature on in the latest version.

  11. TomB says

    December 13, 2010 at 7:12 am

    The street view layer suddenly disappeared. I have tried uninstalling and reinstalling. What happened?

  12. nader bens says

    December 26, 2010 at 7:07 pm

    i think that the street view will be back after the christmas days

  13. downsman says

    January 22, 2011 at 2:53 pm

    I have just up-graded to Google Earth 6 & very disappointed with Street View.
    Main complaint is that there is bad distortion at outer edges of images.
    Is there a way to correct this?

  14. Brad says

    January 24, 2011 at 5:20 am

    Just loaded 6.0.1.2032 (beta) and still no street view layer.

  15. Decorating manchester says

    February 6, 2011 at 5:09 pm

    my house on street view has a different front door when you click along once on the arrows.

  16. Thiagaraj Thomas says

    March 23, 2011 at 7:08 am

    I live in India,can i take photographs and post it on Google earth for Street view.
    Do i need any special camera or lens for this.

  17. Tom Tangen says

    March 30, 2011 at 9:33 am

    I can not find street view in verson 6? It is not in the left meny.

  18. Tom Tangen says

    March 30, 2011 at 9:34 am

    I can not find street view in verson 6? It is not in the left meny.

  19. Art says

    April 3, 2011 at 6:21 pm

    Like Tom above, I cannot find street vier in the menu in version 6. I re-downloaded, but it still isn’t there. How do I get it back?

  20. Barbara Spann says

    May 21, 2011 at 10:45 pm

    Street view option came up missing, how do I get it back it is not on the lower left side where it once was

  21. bonnie says

    July 6, 2011 at 4:47 pm

    My G/E icon (and program) vanished from my desktop. When I re-downloaded it the ‘street view’ option was missing from the ‘layers’ list at the lower left side of the page. How can I get it back? Thanks.

  22. Vince says

    July 26, 2011 at 6:27 pm

    It seems like I am not the only one that can’t find the street view. I can’t find ANY cameras.

  23. 5 star rated medicare advantage plans says

    July 30, 2011 at 11:44 am

    I still can’t get the street view. Any luck with you guys?

  24. rb says

    August 4, 2011 at 6:33 pm

    Don’t panic. Under the north arrow and above the zoom slider, there is a little statue guy. Drag that icon over the area you want to see and it will take you there. There are no more bubbles, one scene blends into the next. Street address is top right.

  25. Medicare Advantage Enrollment Dates for 2012 says

    September 12, 2011 at 12:05 pm

    I LOVE Google Earth, the street view is awesome!

  26. Pat says

    January 14, 2012 at 6:49 pm

    I don’t like version 6.
    Can you give me a web address where I can reload GE5.X?

  27. Jerry says

    January 15, 2012 at 8:03 pm

    I can no longer get street view in layers settings. How do I get it back?

  28. Plasterer Manchester says

    January 20, 2012 at 7:53 am

    10 points to the first person to find my van in manchester lol

  29. Pierre Brisset says

    January 23, 2012 at 3:36 pm

    I can no longerhave access to street View even with 5.2 version of Google Earth and this has been since January 20th 2012 after an update request.
    How can I get these friendly cameras back.
    I have spent 3 days reading about the marvels of Streer View but can’t have access.
    please help me.
    Pierre B.

  30. Robert Smith says

    February 19, 2012 at 12:03 pm

    Apparently street view has been moved out of Google Earth to Google Maps. It would be nice if Google had told us this instead of having to spend half a day farting about trying to find the *** feature. My golden view of Google is a bit tarnished at the moment. Why don’t they answer the questions in these forums? Most annoying.

  31. Robert Smith says

    February 19, 2012 at 12:04 pm

    Apparently street view has been moved out of Google Earth to Google Maps. It would be nice if Google had told us this instead of having to spend half a day farting about trying to find the *** feature. My golden view of Google is a bit tarnished at the moment. Why don’t they answer the questions in these forums? Most annoying.

  32. Robert Smith says

    February 19, 2012 at 12:04 pm

    Apparently street view has been moved out of Google Earth to Google Maps. It would be nice if Google had told us this instead of having to spend half a day farting about trying to find the *** feature. My golden view of Google is a bit tarnished at the moment. Why don’t they answer the questions in these forums? Most annoying.

  33. Smith says

    February 19, 2012 at 12:09 pm

    Street view feature has moved from Google Earth to Google Maps. Took me half a day of farting about to find this. Why the hell don’t they tell us? Extremely aggravating. Previous glowing view of Google now tarnished. Tired, miffed, going for nap. Boo.

  34. John A. Hooge says

    February 28, 2012 at 9:06 pm

    I have a hard time getting Street View, take many tries before it works by dragging the icon to the place. Often then there are streaks across the picture, how do i get rid of that?
    This has been a real frustration since I downloaded Version 6.2
    Please fix this
    John

  35. John A. Hooge says

    February 29, 2012 at 12:27 pm

    I live in the Metro Vancouver, B.C. area. With the former version I had no problem with Street View. I have spent hours trying to get this feature to work with this 6.2 version. Except for this feature this version works fine.
    I have followed all the instructions. It doesn’t seem to matter at what altitude. I click and drag the pegman to the location and immediately it all flies into somewhere, also it goes into Ground Level, when I click to Street View it soon changes to Ground Level. After dozens of tries I may actually get it to work. Very unsatisfactory. Are you going to fix this as many others are having this problem.
    IS THERE A WAY I CAN DOWNLOAD THE FORMER VERSION WHICH AT LEAST WORKED, I HAVE DONE MANY IN THE FORMER VERSION ALL OVER THIS PROVINCE.
    Please fix this version
    John

  36. Landis says

    March 2, 2012 at 11:19 am

    Thank you… I’ve been looking for a kml (database or layers) file to download and install to see roads. It’s just like me to make things more difficult than they really are..
    Спасибо,
    Landis.

  37. lee says

    June 4, 2012 at 6:18 am

    Google Maps help me look round locations before a shoot. I get to see the street that a venue is on before I even step foot in a new county to shoot a wedding. Really improved my workflow, when I arrive I feel like I am in familiar surroundings, even if I’ve never stepped foot in the given county, amazing

  38. liz says

    June 24, 2012 at 9:19 am

    I like street view, it’s awesome, to travel all over the world. I wish to know, when the following countries they will have available street view, like : Austria, Hungary & Germany in all cities.

  39. Peter Balacs says

    October 7, 2012 at 8:06 am

    Why should I see a message when I try to run or load Google earth saying that the file could harm my computer.

  40. john says

    October 18, 2012 at 7:49 pm

    dont understand how to bring my city into play, and then street… when i press the area nothing seems to happen from the tutorial… totally at a loss…would greatly appreciate some help… thanks

  41. Michael Davias says

    February 26, 2013 at 7:28 pm

    I’m a little late to the Streetview-In-GoogleEarth party, but I am now using the facility to embed Streetview imagery as a complement to my Carolina Bay of the Day blog on Google+ [ https://plus.google.com/104054126064108549423/posts/9AKWJbcUYG1 ] I am putting a jpeg of the view in the placemark, which can be seen with one click, and a look-at to take the viewer down in the Streetview realm with a double click. It is hared to see Carolina Bay rims and terrain relief, but I have been finding Streetview visualizations which are tantalizing examples of what can be see with the naked eye from the ground.



PLEASE NOTE: Google Earth Blog is no longer writing regular posts. As a result, we are not accepting new comments or questions about Google Earth. If you have a question, use the official Google Earth and Maps Forums or the Google Earth Community Forums.

Primary Sidebar

RSS
Follow by Email
Facebook
Twitter




Categories

  • 3D Models (792)
  • Applications (708)
  • Business (288)
  • Environment (353)
  • Flying (208)
  • GE Plugin (282)
  • Google Earth News (1,764)
  • Google Earth Tips (592)
  • GPS (136)
  • Navigation (227)
  • Network Links (214)
  • Sailing (121)
  • Science (499)
  • Sightseeing (1,903)
  • Site News (587)
  • Sky (67)
  • Sports (154)
  • Street View (50)
  • Tours (117)
  • Video (421)
  • Weather (180)

Get new posts by email

Get new posts by email:

Google Earth Satellites

Copyright 2005-© 2023 Frank Taylor. All Rights Reserved.

This blog and its author are not an official source of information from Google that produces and owns Google Earth Google and Google Earth are trademarks of Google Inc.. All image screenshots from Google Earth are Copyright Google. All other trademarks appearing here are the trademarks of their respective owners.

Go to mobile version