Brooklyn College Library LibGuides Home: Mapping and GIS Lessons for Poets, Historians, and Scientists: Google Earth Basics

Google Earth: Placemarks, Paths, Layers, and Legends

Interface Overview
1. Search panel - Use this to find places and directions and manage search results. Google Earth EC
may display additonal tabs here.
2. Overview map - Use this for an additional perspective of the Earth.
3. Hide/Show sidebar - Click this to conceal or the display the side bar (Search, Places and Layers
panels).
4. Placemark - Click this to add a placemark for a location.
5. Polygon - Click this to add a polygon.
6. Path - Click this to add a path (line or lines).
7. Image Overlay - Click this to add an image overlay on the Earth.
8. Measure - Click this to measure a distance or area size.
9. Email - Click this to email a view or image.
10. Print - Click this to print the current view of the Earth.
11. Show in Google Maps - Click this to show the current view in Google Maps in your web browser
12. Navigation controls - Use these to tilt, zoom and move around your viewpoint (see below).
13. Layers panel - Use this to display points of interest.
14. Places panel - Use this to locate, save, organize and revisit placemarks.
15. 3D Viewer - View the globe and its terrain in this window.
16. Status bar - View coordinate, elevation and imagery streaming status here.

Download a historic map (as an image, not as a kml layer) and add it to GE as an image overlay
“Georeference” it over the GE interface using at least 4 "control points."
In GE, name and describe this layered map, and export it as an image and as a kml layer.
Explore the other map repositories listed here, such as NYPL Map Warper, ArcGIS Esri, and GE Map Database.

Search For Places
This is the interface after clicking off the Navigation tutorial. Try typing an address into the "search" box on the top left, and enter.

Here are some ways you can look up locations:

City and state: Brooklyn, NY
City and country: London, England
Street name: Malcolm X Boulevard, Brooklyn
Entire address: French Institute Alliance Francaise, 22 East 60 Street, New York, NY, 10022
Zip or postal code: 11215
Longitude and latitude: 18°28’59"N 69°56’21"W or 18.4830556, -69.9391667
General places: Museums in Brazil

It is also feasible to search for features manually, through the Google Earth navigation.

Placemarks
Placemark Tutorial in Google Earth
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You can also change the symbol for your Placemark (see Figure 6 by clicking on the icon to the right of the Name field.

Note: On a Mac, access the Edit Placemark window by control/secondary-clicking the pin, then choose Get Info.

Create a Path
Follow this link for detailed instructions on adding a path. More information below on an overview of paths.
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Click the Add Path button at the top left of your map. A New Path dialog box appears.
Click on a series of places on the map to form a path. Each time you click, a new node is added to your path. You can also click-and-drag to create frequent nodes, which makes a smoother path.
In the New Path dialog box, type in a name for the path in the Name field.
Click on the Style, Color tab, and choose a color, width, and opacity for the path.
Styling Your Path
Choose a look for your path on the dialog box.
Add Polygons
Though adding polygons to GE is not a part of our current lesson, here is a tutorial link of interest.

My Places and Folders
Organize your Places with Folders
To add a folder, go to the Add menu and select Folder.
In the New Folder dialog box, type in a name for the folder in the Name field. In this example, we typed “My Google Earth Project”.
Click OK. Your new folder is added to the Places panel.

Click-and-drag each place (your placemarks, paths, and polygons) into the folder to organize your project.

Layers
Take a look at the "layers" panel. Try clicking on the layer "3D" buildings, and zooming in to a familiar place.

Open Google Earth Pro.
In the left panel, select Layers.
Next to "Primary Database," click Right Arrow Right arrow.
Next to "3D Buildings," click Right Arrow Right arrow.
Uncheck any image options you don’t want to see.
Go to a place on the map.
Zoom in until you see buildings in 3D.
Explore the area around you.

Download an image of an historical map to your PC.

Now, using the image overlay icon open the image in Google Earth.

Click the Add Image Overlay button to add a new image overlay. A New Image Overlay dialog box appears, and a green outline is placed on the Earth.
In the New Image Overlay dialog box, type in a name for the image overlay in the Name field.
Copy and paste the link below into the Link field, or click "Browse..." and find an image to add from your local hard drive. In this example, we will use the following picture.
Move the New Image Overlay window aside to see the Google Earth Viewer. Do not close the window or you will be unable to edit the map. (If you did close it, you can open it again by right-clicking the new image in your folder and selecting Properties.)
Use the green diamond to rotate, the green cross to reposition, and the green handles to stretch the overlay until it matches the imagery beneath. This may take a bit (or a lot) of tweaking to match up the detail, and it may never match up perfectly.
Move the Transparency slider to the left to make the image a little transparent, which will assist you in placing the image in the correct location. Use the park boundaries to help you align the park boundaries on the map with the boundaries in Google Earth.
Use the center cross-hair marker to move the image overlay on the globe and position it in the right location.
Use the triangle marker at the left to rotate the image for better placement.
Use any of the corner or side anchors to stretch or skew the selected corner or side. If you press the Shift key when selecting this marker, the image is scaled from the center.
Click OK when you are finished. The map is now listed in the Places panel, and can be saved to a KML file with other Google Earth project data you have created.