• 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

Google Earth Pro: Viewshed tool

February 5, 2015

On Tuesday we had a look at Google Earth Pro’s Movie Maker. Today, we are looking at another Google Earth Pro exclusive feature, the Viewshed tool.

The Viewshed tool shows the line of sight from any given placemark. The Google Earth help page lists some possible uses as:

  • Checking the views from a house you plan to build.
  • Architects can analyze the views available from a tract of land before designing buildings.
  • Real estate agents can evaluate views remotely, and take views into consideration when they set property prices.
  • Businesses can make rough estimates of cell tower coverage from a particular location.
  • Advertisers can try out different locations for billboards and signs.

We were impressed to discover that it takes into account not only the terrain, but also any 3D models in the scene, including the 3D mesh areas Google has been rolling out, or even models the user has in their ‘my places’.

Using the tool is very simple. Add a placemark where you want the Viewshed to be calculated from, right click on it and select ‘Show Viewshed’. Be patient, as it can take a while before it even lets you know it is calculating, and trying to do other things in Google Earth while it is still calculating the Viewshed may cause it to crash. If your placemark is at ground level, the tool will offer to automatically raise it to a usable height, or allow you to edit the placemarks altitude.

Viewshed
The Viewshed from a tower in Vienna, Austria. You can see the ‘shadows’ cast by tall buildings.

For more, watch this YouTube video created by Google:

About Timothy Whitehead

Timothy has been using Google Earth since 2004 when it was still called Keyhole before it was renamed Google Earth in 2005 and has been a huge fan ever since. He is a programmer working for Red Wing Aerobatx and lives in Cape Town, South Africa.

  • More Posts(754)

Filed Under: Google Earth Tips Tagged With: google earth pro, google earth pro features, viewshed

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. Jolmary says

    February 5, 2015 at 12:34 pm

    how can i download this without priveleges

  2. Steven Ho says

    February 10, 2015 at 3:33 am

    This reminds me I have made a “Sight generater” in 2010, “How far you can see Burj Dubai?”. Google Earth Pro viewshed tool calculate a lot of terrain data, accurate to produce the line of sight in ten-kilometer radius of the circle.
    My “Sight generater” generates a cone by simple trigonometric calculations and labels the sight distance. They are different way of thinking, for your reference!

    • Steven Ho says

      February 10, 2015 at 3:37 am

      I forget to set the weblink of How far you can see Burj Dubai?.

  3. darylharr says

    March 2, 2016 at 7:51 pm

    The video indicates that your can share the viewshed, but I’m not able to see the results of the viewshed analysis anywhere in the interface after it’s completed. Only the option to ‘Exit viewshed’.

  4. Edgar Medina says

    July 5, 2016 at 6:32 pm

    Is there any way to change the radius of the Viewshed that is calculated? It is a bit short for my purposes.

  5. Letho Gaolekwe says

    September 15, 2016 at 11:22 am

    I have been trying to modify the radius but to no avail as well…
    Someone out there please help on the modification of the radii



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