Navigation

There are several ways to navigate Google Earth. Covered here are searching for a location and mouse, keyboard, and onscreen navigation. 

Search Bar Navigation

You can search for a city by name, address or even a Latitude and Longitude coordinates.

The search results will be displayed on the left side bar and you can click on them to be taken to location. Clear these results by clicking the 'X' at the bottom of the search window.

The search results that you get are going to be specific to where you are looking. If you search for 'Giant Stadium' when zoomed into Green Bay, you will see results specific to the area. If you zoom out to the whole East coast, and perform the search again, you will be taken to MetLife Stadium in New Jersey. 

Keyboard navigation

You can use the keyboard for precise camera movement. You will get controlled, but slow movement. 

• The arrow keys will move the camera around N,S,E and W (holding ALT will do the same, only slower)

• Holding CTRL + Arrow keys will change the camera angle

• Holding Shift + Arrow keys will orbit around the center of the screen

• Holding CTRL + Shift + Up or Down Arrow will zoom

When adding or editing a Path or Polygon, the mouse will no longer perform navigation. The keyboard navigation will still work, however.

Mouse Navigation

The mouse is one of the fastest ways to navigate Google Earth, however can be a jarring experience. Navigation is controlled with both the left and right click and the scroll wheel.

Right Click:

• • Right click + drag up = zoom out

  • Right click + drag down = zoom in

  • Right click + drag left = orbit left

  • Right click + drag right = orbit right

  • These can be combined to zoom while orbiting as well (right click + drag up and to the left = zoom out and orbit left at once)

Left Click:

• • Left click + drag = pan

Center wheel:

• • Zoom in and out

Center Click:

• • Orbit

On Screen Navigation

On the top right, there are several navigation buttons that are similar to mouse navigation. They control camera angle, pan and zoom. This is probably the slowest way to navigate Earth. If you don't see your on screen navigation controls go to 'View' and select 'Show Navigation'.

Pro Tip: If you don't have On Screen Navigation on, you may not be able to get into StreetView.

3D Mouse

A 3D mouse is a 3rd party tool that is used to navigate many 3D environments, including PC based video games and of course, Google Earth. Drivers for this device can be found here.

Tips and Tricks:

• 'N' will change the orientation to North as up, keeping the camera angle the same

• 'U' will point the camera straight at the ground, without changing the orientation

• 'R' will point the camera straight at the ground, with North up (a combination of the two above)