Using Google Earth Street Search

Using Google Earth Street Search
Page content

Where’s My Street?

The latest version of Google Earth features a fantastic new addition to the world-busting real-time map service: street search. Used in conjunction with the new 3D buildings system this can be used to take you on a virtual journey across the towns and cities of the world without ever leaving your computer!

Extending the popular Google Street View technology further – Google Earth has featured several innovations that were later made available to Google Maps – the Google Earth street search tool will find any street in the world, based on your current location and the information you give it.

Once the right location has been found you can then view it, see it in 3D view, access it in Street View mode and get directions there.

Searching for Streets with Google Earth

Using Google Earth Street Search you can visit the UK Prime Minister!

Using the Search tool on the left-hand side of the Google Earth window, you can type in your search term. For instance to find a street or road in the same neighborhood as you, type its name into the Fly to search box – as long as your Internet provider is supplying your regional location to Google Earth (something that can be discovered based on IP address), then the search item should be displayed.

For a location such as 10 Downing Street in London – the UK Prime Minister’s residence – you should qualify the street address with the city name: “Downing Street, London” for instance.

Using the Fly to search will display an animated flight to the chosen location, which is initialised when you double-click the required search result.

You can also use the Directions or Find Business search tools to find the street addresses that you want to view, making Google Earth’s street search tool just as powerful as the Google Maps tool.

The advantage of searching with Google Earth, of course, is what you can do with the application after the search is made…

Viewing Locations in 3D and with Google Street View

Using Google Earth Street Search you can wander around New York City!

As you might expect, with Google Earth you can check the location you are searching for by zooming into the map (using the mouse roller). This will display the street in Street View, enabling you to get a good look at the location before visiting. You might be looking for somewhere to park during a night out, or have an interest in sizing up a building and its location in advance of attending a job interview - and Google Earth is perfect for these tasks.

Certain locations in Google Earth aren’t afforded the advantage of Google Street View, however; in the event that you should find such a location, you can take advantage of the 3D view, which is built from 3D models of the various buildings that occupy the area that you want to take a look at. In some cases these models have photos of the buildings mapped onto their external planes in order to create a realistic representation of the original.

References

Source: Author’s own experience

Screenshots Provided by Author