Google Earth: 10 Amazing Things You Didn’t Know You Could Do

Learn 10 amazing things you can do with Google Earth, and then explore its hidden features. For example, you can travel back in time with historical imagery, consequently, you can pilot a virtual plane, and furthermore, you can create your own interactive maps.

Most of us think of Google Earth as a digital globe for looking at our world. We use it to zoom in on our homes or check out famous landmarks. But hidden beneath the surface is a powerful set of tools you might not know about. These features can completely change how you see our planet. This guide uncovers 10 amazing things you can do with Google Earth.

1. Travel Through Time with Historical Imagery

For instance, did you know your view isn’t limited to just the present day? Google Earth also lets you peek into the past. The historical imagery feature is like a time machine for any location on the globe. It lets you view old satellite images, creating a visual timeline of how things have changed. You can watch cities sprout up from empty land or track how glaciers have shrunk over the years. This tool is a truly fascinating window into history.

Getting to this feature is simple. Just go to the area you want to explore. Then, look for the little clock icon in the top toolbar and give it a click. This brings up a time slider that shows you all the available images for that spot. As you drag the slider, the main view updates with photos from different years. The amount of available history varies, but some places have pictures going back decades.

This tool has so many real-world uses. City planners can study how a town has grown over time, and scientists can visually track changes in the environment. Of course, you can also just satisfy your own curiosity. See what your neighborhood looked like long before you moved in. It’s an incredible feature of Google Earth for anyone interested in history or our planet.

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2. Pilot a Virtual Aircraft with the Flight Simulator

While looking at the past is incredible, Google Earth also lets you experience the present in a completely new way. Beyond just looking at the globe, you can actually fly over it. That’s because a secret flight simulator is hidden inside the program. This built-in feature lets you grab the controls of a virtual airplane and fly it over the incredibly detailed 3D landscapes. It offers a thrilling way to experience the world’s geography. Imagine soaring high above the Grand Canyon or navigating between New York City’s skyscrapers.

To turn on the flight simulator, you just need a quick keyboard shortcut. For Windows users, press Ctrl + Alt + A, and if you’re on a Mac, use Cmd + Option + A. A box will pop up, letting you pick your plane. The SR22 propeller plane is great for beginners, while the F-16 jet fighter offers more speed and agility. You can start your flight right where you are or choose from a list of real-world airports.

Once you take off, you can fly the plane with your keyboard or a joystick. A heads-up display shows you important flight information like your speed and altitude. Learning to fly is a fun and rewarding challenge that turns Google Earth into an interactive game. This feature provides endless entertainment and a cool way to learn about aviation.

3. Craft Your Own Interactive Stories and Maps

After you’ve flown over the world like a pilot, you might get inspired to mark it up like a mapmaker. Luckily, Google Earth lets you become a creator. You can build your very own interactive maps and tell your own stories using a feature called Projects. This tool allows you to add pins, notes, photos, and even videos to the globe, which you can then easily share. It’s a fantastic tool for teachers, students, and travelers who want to create a personal tour or map out a historical event.

To get started, just click the “Projects” icon you see in the menu on the left. From there, you can begin adding cool features to your map. You can search for places to add or drop a placemark right onto the globe. For every spot you mark, you can give it a title and a description, and even upload your own pictures or add a YouTube video. This helps create a rich, engaging experience for anyone who views your project.

The customization options don’t stop there. You can draw lines and shapes directly on the map, which is perfect for showing a travel route or highlighting a specific area. You can even set up your project to tell a story, guiding viewers from one location to the next in a specific order. When you’re done, you can share it all with a simple web link.

4. Embark on Guided Tours with Voyager

But what if you don’t have the time to build your own tour from scratch? For those who prefer a curated experience, Google Earth offers Voyager. This section is like a digital library of interactive stories and guided adventures. They are created by Google and amazing partners like NASA, National Geographic, and the BBC. Voyager covers almost any topic you can imagine, from the planet’s most beautiful natural wonders to ancient civilizations. You can even take a trip to the moon.

Finding Voyager is easy. Just look for the icon that looks like a ship’s steering wheel in the side menu. Clicking it opens up a huge collection of stories sorted into helpful categories like “Nature,” “Culture,” “Travel,” and “History.” Every story is a rich mix of media, combining stunning satellite photos, 3D views, videos, and interesting text. This makes for a deeply engaging and educational adventure.

Voyager puts a world of information right at your fingertips. You can take a guided tour through the dense Amazon rainforest or retrace the steps of famous explorers from centuries ago. New stories are added all the time, so there is always something new and exciting to discover. Voyager truly turns Google Earth into a powerful learning tool for everyone.

5. Measure the World with Precision Tools

While Voyager’s tours show you the world’s wonders, another tool lets you understand their true scale. Google Earth comes equipped with some very handy measurement tools. These let you figure out distances, areas, and even building heights with surprising accuracy. This feature is incredibly useful for all sorts of real-world projects. An architect could measure a potential building site from their office, or a hiker could map out their trail and see how long it is.

To start measuring, just click on the ruler icon in the toolbar on the left. A new panel will pop up with your measurement options. You can choose to measure a straight line between two spots or map out a path with many different points. The tool shows you the length in several units, and you can easily switch between meters, kilometers, feet, or miles.

Beyond simple lines, you can also find the area of any space. Just click on the map to place the corners of the shape you want to measure, and Google Earth will immediately calculate the total area inside. This is perfect for measuring a local park, a lake, or even your own backyard. These handy tools add a lot of practical value to your virtual globe.

6. Visualize Your Journeys by Importing GPS Data

Measuring the world is one thing, but what about mapping your own path across it? You can bring your real-world adventures directly into Google Earth. The platform lets you import GPS data from all kinds of devices, including your smartphone, a dedicated GPS unit, or even a fitness watch. After you import a file, your route appears as a path on the globe, giving you a fantastic way to see your hikes, bike rides, or road trips over the 3D terrain.

The import process is really quite simple. First, you need your GPS data saved in a common file format, like GPX or KML. Then, inside Google Earth, go to the “File” menu and choose “Open” to find the file on your computer. Google Earth handles the rest, drawing your track directly onto the map. You can then save it as a project to look back on later.

This is a wonderful way to keep a record of your travels and build a visual diary of your favorite adventures. You can also share your routes with friends so they can follow in your footsteps. For athletes, it can be a great training tool for reviewing their performance. Importing GPS data connects your life to the virtual globe of Google Earth.

7. Witness Global Change with Timelapse

Just as you can see your own history on the map, you can also witness the history of the entire planet unfolding. The Timelapse feature in Google Earth is a breathtaking look at our changing world. It pulls together millions of satellite images from the past few decades to create a single, interactive video of the entire planet. You can watch as cities crawl across the landscape or as lush forests disappear. Timelapse offers a powerful look at how we affect the Earth.

You can find Timelapse in the Voyager section we mentioned earlier. Once you open it, you can search for any place on Earth and watch its evolution from 1984 to today. You can pause the animation at any point or zoom in to get a closer look at the details. The controls are easy to use, and the visual effect is truly stunning.

This feature has huge educational value. Scientists use it to study long-term environmental trends, and teachers can use it to show students concepts like urbanization in action. For the rest of us, it gives a unique perspective on our planet, making big ideas like climate change feel more real and understandable.

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8. Explore the Cosmos Beyond Our Planet

The story of our planet is vast, but your exploration doesn’t have to end there. Your journey on Google Earth can actually take you into space. The platform includes detailed, explorable maps of both the Moon and Mars. It also gives you a beautiful view of the night sky, complete with stars, constellations, and galaxies. This transforms Google Earth into your own personal planetarium, letting you explore the universe from your computer.

To switch from Earth to space, go to the “View” menu and then “Explore.” Here, you can choose to see the “Sky,” “Moon,” or “Mars.” Each one offers a totally different experience. In Sky mode, you can navigate the stars and click on objects to learn more about them. In Moon and Mars mode, you can fly over their surfaces in 3D to see giant craters, mountains, and the landing spots of famous space missions.

This feature is packed with interesting information. You can learn all about the history of space travel, see where the Apollo missions touched down, and follow the tracks left by rovers on Mars. It’s a fantastic tool for amateur astronomers and anyone curious about the cosmos, making Google Earth a true gateway to the universe.

9. Uncover Hidden Places and Natural Wonders

After a trip to the stars, it’s amazing to realize there are still so many mysteries to find right here on Earth. The world is filled with weird and wonderful sights, and Google Earth is a fantastic way to find them. From strange patterns etched into deserts to colorful hot springs, the satellite view captures it all. Many people enjoy hunting for these hidden gems, a type of digital exploring that can lead to some truly amazing finds.

You can find many websites and online groups dedicated to sharing cool coordinates for Google Earth. These can point you toward ancient ruins, huge pieces of modern art, or strange landforms. For instance, you can find something in Canada called the “Badlands Guardian,” a natural formation that looks just like a person’s head wearing a headdress. You can also hunt for mysterious crop circles or find giant shipwrecks.

This kind of exploring makes you look at the world map in a new way, turning the globe into a giant puzzle waiting to be solved. You can spend hours just scanning the map for something unique or use the “I’m Feeling Lucky” button to jump to a random spot. This element of surprise makes Google Earth a fun and endlessly entertaining tool.

10. Create Professional Animations with Google Earth Studio

Discovering these hidden gems is a thrill, but what if you want to share them with the world in a professional way? For filmmakers, journalists, and educators, Google Earth Studio is a game-changer. It’s a powerful animation tool that lets you make amazing videos using the globe’s imagery. You can create smooth, cinematic camera shots that look professionally made, allowing you to fly over cities or zoom from space right to a street address.

Google Earth Studio is a separate tool that works in your web browser. You have to sign up for free to get access, and once you’re in, you can start building your animations. The layout feels a bit like professional animation software, using a timeline and keyframes to let you control the camera’s every move. You get total control over the camera’s position, angle, and zoom.

This tool is perfect for creating introduction shots for a documentary or for news reports that need to show where an event happened. Teachers can use it to create engaging videos to help with their lessons. You can export the final animations in high definition. Google Earth Studio really unlocks the filmmaking potential of all the amazing images stored in Google Earth.