Common questions about Google Earth

1. When were these pictures taken? How often are they updated?

Our images are photographs taken by satellites and aircraft sometime in the last few years. The images in Google Earth are updated on a rolling basis. Click here for more details.

2. Are Google Earth images captured in real time?

No, they aren't. Our images are photographs taken by satellites and aircraft sometime in the last few years.

3. Are there cities covered in detail worldwide? Or just in the US?

The whole world is covered with medium resolution imagery and terrain data. This resolution allows you to see major geographic features and man-made development such as towns, but not detail of individual buildings. Additional high-resolution imagery which reveals detail for individual buildings is available for most of the major cities in the US, Western Europe, Canada, and the UK. 3D buildings are represented in 38 US cities (the major urban areas). Detailed road maps are available for the US, Canada, the UK, and Western Europe. And Google Local search is available for the US, Canada, and the UK.

4. Why do I see blurry pictures when I go to my house?

Google Earth combines data of different resolutions to offer a seamless viewing experience, so some locations look a bit blurry. We offer high resolution imagery (greater than 1-meter) for thousands of cities and more are on the way.

5. Will my computer be able to run Google Earth?

Google Earth takes advantage of the 3D graphics capabilities standard on newer PCs and MACs. If you are using Google Earth on an older machine, or a notebook computer that does not have 3D graphics capabilities, you may not be able to run the application.

Graphics card requirement for Google Earth

The 3D graphics capabilities of your machine have a lot to do with how well Google Earth performs.

NVIDIA
ATI*
3D Labs
Intel**
Matrox
S3

* The following ATI cards are not supported: ATI Rage Mobility, ATI Xpert, ATI 3D Rage.

** Intel 3D graphics machines can use the default OpenGL version, but work better in DirectX (choose Start > Programs > Google Earth > Start Google Earth in DirectX).

Matrox card users must use the OpenGL version. S3 cards must use the DirectX version.

System requirements for Google Earth on the PC

The Google Earth client requires certain system configurations in order to run smoothly.

Operating system: Windows 2000, Windows XP
CPU speed: Intel® Pentium® PIII 500 MHz
System memory (RAM): 128MB
200MB hard-disk space
3D graphics card: 3D-capable video card with 16MB VRAM
1024x768, 32-bit true color screen
Network speed: 128 kbps ("Broadband/Cable Internet")

Operating system: Windows XP
CPU speed: Intel® Pentium® P4 2.4GHz+ or AMD 2400xp+
System memory (RAM): 512MB
2GB hard-disk space
3D graphics card: 3D-capable video card with 32MB VRAM or greater
1280x1024, 32-bit true color screen
Network speed: 128 kbps ("Broadband/Cable Internet")

System requirements for Google Earth on the Mac

The Google Earth client requires certain system configurations in order to run smoothly on the Mac.

Operating System: Mac OS X 10.3.9
CPU: G3 500Mhz
System Memory (RAM): 256MB RAM
Hard Disk: 400MB free space
Network Speed: 128 Kbits/sec
Graphics Card: 3D-capable with 16MB of VRAM
Screen: 1024x768, "16-bit High Color" screen

Operating System: Mac OSX 10.4.4
CPU: G4 1.2Ghz
System Memory (RAM): 512MB RAM
Hard Disk: 2GB free space
Network Speed: 768 Kbits/sec
Graphics Card: 3D-capable with 32MB of VRAM
Screen: 1280x1024, "32-bit True Color" screen