Google Earth User Guide

Google Earth User’s Guide

"For anyone who has ever dreamed of flying…" – New York Times

Google Earth is a free program that allows you to view any portion of the world from the comfort and ease of your home computer. You can look up directions, street maps, city guides and much more all from your computer using Google Earth.

Google Earth is a broadband, 3D application that not all computers can run. If you want to be able to use Google Earth successfully, you will need to have the proper configuration. Please keep in mind that:

Desktop computers older than 4 years old may not be able to run it.
Notebook computers older than 2 years old may not be able to run it.

To see if you are able to run Google Earth on your PC, look to the requirements below.

PC System Configuration Minimum configuration for PC: Recommended configuration for PC:

Operating System: Windows 2000 or Windows XP
CPU: Pentium 3, 500Mhz
System Memory (RAM): 128MB
Hard Disk: 400MB free space
Network Speed: 128 Kbits/sec
Graphics Card: 3D-capable with 16MB of VRAM
Screen: 1024×768, "16-bit High Color"

Operating System: Windows XP
CPU: Pentium 4 2.4GHz+ or AMD 2400xp+
System Memory (RAM): 512MB
Hard Disk: 2GB free space
Network Speed: 768 Kbits/sec
Graphics Card: 3D-capable with 32MB of VRAM
Screen: 1280×1024, "32-bit True Color"

Mac System Configuration Minimum configuration for Mac: Recommended configuration for Mac:

Operating System: Mac OS X 10.3.9
CPU: G3 500Mhz
System Memory (RAM): 256MB
Hard Disk: 400MB free space
Network Speed: 128 Kbits/sec
Graphics Card: 3D-capable with 16MB of VRAM
Screen: 1024×768, "Thousands of Colors"

Operating System: Mac OS X 10.4.5
CPU: G4 1.2Ghz
System Memory (RAM): 512MB
Hard Disk: 2GB free space
Network Speed: 768 Kbits/sec
Graphics Card: 3D-capable with 32MB of VRAM

 Screen: 1280×1024, "Millions of Colors" Linux System Configuration Minimum configuration Recommended configuration

Kernel: 2.4 or later
glibc: 2.3.2 w/ NPTL or later
XFree86-4.0 or x.org R6.7 or later
CPU: Pentium 3, 500Mhz
System Memory (RAM): 128MB
Hard Disk: 400MB free space
Network Speed: 128 Kbits/sec
Screen: 1024×768, 16 bit color
Tested and works on the following OSs:
     Ubuntu 5.10
     Suse 10.1
     Fedora Core 5
     Linspire 5.1
     Gentoo 2006.0
     Debian 3.1
     Red Hat 9

If you meet the system requirements, you can download Google Earth free and easily. The amount of time it takes to download will depend on your internet connection and speed and your computer speed. Once you have completed the download and install, you are ready to begin.

When you first open the program, you will have the option to type in a location and the program will fly you there. You literally have the planet inside your computer.

If this is the first time you have ever used Google Earth, you might want to spend some time learning to work the controls. You can navigate with your mouse or with the navigation tools found within the program near your compass.

You should then practice zooming in, flying from location to location and using the different features of the program so that you get a good handle on how to use them for when you need to find someplace.

See in your toolbar how there is a “fly to” option which simply takes you to a place to view and also an option to let you find directions from one location to another.

You will enjoy playing around with the many other features and options of Google Earth but be careful, it can become addicting!

Have fun using Google Earth!