How do I choose, Google Earth or Google Maps?

Installing Google Earth

How do I install Google Earth?

Version 6 settings


Using Google Earth

Learn more about Google Earth

Keyboard shortcuts


Using Google Maps

Learn more about Google Maps


Using Earth Point

Is there a fee for using Earth Point?

Icons and colors

Save the real estate listings


Boise, Idaho Real Estate Listings

Use a Google Earth aerial view as an MLS picture

How do I list my house for sale on Google Earth?

Parcel numbers

Enter the correct county

Virtual tours

Is Earth Point available in other cities?


Township and Range

Texas Land Survey

Coordinate Grids


How do I choose, Google Earth or Google Maps?

If you have a newer computer and a faster internet connection, then try Google Earth.  The interface is incredible.  Google Earth is a 3-D experience.  You can look at features from any angle and you can zoom in and out with ease.  Google Earth is free software that is downloaded to your PC.  Google Earth must run on a newer computer and you need a DSL or cable modem internet connection or better.

Google Maps is a 2-D experience.  It uses the same satellite images as Google Earth, but you can't tilt or rotate the perspective.  Google Maps is viewed from the web browser.  No additional software is needed.  Google Maps can run on older computers and with a slower internet connection.

How do I install Google Earth?

This link takes you to Google Earth's install page.  If you already have Google Earth installed, the installation program will update you to the latest version.  Google recommends a computer that is no more than four years old (two years for a laptop) connected to the internet with a DSL or cable modem or better.  A dial-up connection is too slow.

Recommended settings for version 6

I recommend the following settings for Google Earth version 6.  From the Google Earth menu, click on "Tools", then "Options".  Then
1. On the "3D View" tab, you might like an "Elevation Exaggeration" of 1.2 or 1.3
However, if you are in a mountainous area viewing one of the Earth Point grids (Townships and Range, UMT, MGRS, etc.), then you might want to turn the elevation off.  The reason is that the grid lines follow the mountain terrain, and looks distorted.
2. Click on the "Navigation" tab.  Under "Mouse Wheel" click "Invert mouse wheel zoom direction".  Under the "Navigation" section, click "Do not automatically tilt while zooming".  Also select "Gradually slow the Earth when rotating or zooming".
3. Click on the "General" tab.  Put a check mark next to "Show web results in external browser" Set the "Email Program" as desired.

Learn more about Google Earth

Read the help file that comes with Google Earth
Read the Google Earth Basics article at Google Earth Blog.
Read the Google Earth Blog, the definitive Google Earth blog site.
Read the forums, such as Google Earth Community (also available from the Google Earth help menu)
Google Earth in the classroom.
    Google Earth Lessons
    Juicy Geography
How stuff works - Google Earth
Search Google for Google Earth topics....


Keyboard shortcuts

Use "control" and "shift" together with the arrow keys.
Press the left mouse button and drag the mouse.
Spin the mouse wheel. 
Some folks like to press down the mouse wheel and drag the mouse.
With any of the above, press "alt" to slow down the movement.

Function Keyboard Shortcut* Mouse Shortcut*
Zoom in and out ctrl-up and ctrl-down cursor key
  1. mouse wheel, or
  2. right-click and drag mouse
Spin left shift-right cursor key
  1. ctrl-mouse wheel, or
  2. press mouse wheel and drag mouse
Move left, right, forwards, and backwards cursor keys
  1. left click and drag the mouse
Spin right shift-right arrow keys
  1. ctrl-mouse wheel, or
  2. press mouse wheel and drag mouse
Tilt up and down shift-up and down cursor keys
  1. ctrl-mouse wheel, or
  2. press mouse wheel and drag mouse

*If the "alt" key is also pressed, then these actions slow down, which can be handy.

Learn more about Google Maps

Read Google Maps Mania, the definitive Google Maps Blog

Is there a fee for using Earth Point?

While many features are more convenient if used with a subscription, all of the utilities will work without one.

  • There is no charge for the real estate or property search features, which cover the Boise, Idaho area.
  • A subscription is best for those utilities that display a grid on Google Earth, such as Township and Range, Texas Land Survey, and the Coordinant Grids.  Without a subscription, these utilities display a pop-up message every ten minutes, asking you to purchase a subscription.  After one day, the grid is deactivated, but continues to display pop-up messages.  At this point, the user should remove the grid from Google Earth.
  • No subscription is needed for the one-time lookups, such as the Township and Range "Fly To" buttons, or the single Coordinate Conversions.
  • The Excel To Kml utility is limited to 200 rows of data with out a subscription.  If a subscription is utilized, tens of thousands of rows can be mapped.
  • Polygon area is limited to five polygons.
  • Batch Convert is limited to five rows of data.

Icons and colors

Each price range has a separate icon color.  Each listing type has its own icon shape and its own property line color.

Listing Type Price Range Property
Line
Color
$0 to
$100,000 		$100,000 to
$200,000 		$200,000 to
$300,000 		$300,000 to
$400,000 		$400,000 plus
Residential dot dot dot dot dot  
Land dot dot dot dot dot  
Farm and Ranch dot dot dot dot dot  
Residential Income dot dot dot dot dot  
Business Commercial dot dot dot dot dot  
New Listings of any type dot dot dot dot dot As above

Save the real estate listings

Initially, the real estate listings are placed in the "Temporary Places" folder of Google Earth.  When you exit Google Earth, there will be a message.  Click "Yes" so that these items will be there when Google Earth is restarted.  That way, your listings will be refreshed every day.

unsaved items

Table of Contents

Home Homes and property for sale mapped onto Google Earth and Google Maps.
Intro Illustrates the features of Earth Point and includes screen shots of properties and listings on Google Earth.
Q & A Questions and answers.
Property Search County-wide address lookup and mapping, includes assessor's data.
County GIS Interactive roof-top address and data browser.  Draws property lines as you move about in Google Earth.
Township & Range Displays the United States Public Land Survey System on Google Earth.
Around Town Schools, traffic cameras, webcams, historical sites.
Press Google Earth Blog, Inman news, Idaho Statesman, Kuna Melba News.
Blog Updates, news, topics of interest.
About Earth Point.

Two Steps

1. Install Google Earth.  The Q & A page links you to it.
2. Download the listings.  Enter the search criteria, click the "View on Google Earth" button.
Left arrow. Once downloaded, the listings are automatically updated every day.  Included are the cities of Boise, Caldwell, Eagle, Garden City, Greenleaf, Kuna, Melba, Meridian, Middleton, Nampa, Notus, Parma, Star, and Wilder.

How do I use a Google Earth aerial view as an MLS picture?

Open Google Earth.  Zoom to your listing property.  Frame the view as you want it to appear in MLS.  On the Google Earth menu, click "File", then "Save Image".  The view will be saved as a "jpg" file, which is perfect for uploading to MLS.  In accordance with the Google Earth copyright agreement, do not trim Google's name off of the picture.

If you would like to include property lines in the Google Earth view, then first go to the Earth Point Property Search page.  Enter the parcel number or numbers, click the "View on Google Earth" button, and proceed as above.

If the listing is already in MLS, another method is to go to the Earth Point Home page.  Uncheck the "Residential" listing type.  Enter the MLS number.  Click the "View on Google Earth" button.

How do I list my house for sale on Google Earth?

Earth Point gets its listing data from Intermountain Multiple Listing Service, which is the database realtors use.  So long as your realtor enters a correct parcel number or numbers, your listing will appear on Google Earth.  If Initial Pointe Realty is your realtor, no worries, the listing will appear!  Otherwise, your realtor can read the following or give me a call.
  1. The property must be in Ada or Canyon counties, Idaho.
  2. The listing must be entered into the Intermountain Multiple Listing Service database.
  3. The correct parcel number or parcel numbers must be entered.  In Canyon County, please use the account number.  Multiple parcel or account numbers can be entered so long as they are separated by spaces or commas.  For "Land" listings, parcel or account numbers can also be entered into the "Additional Parcel Numbers" field.

Parcel numbers

This information is for realtors who enter your listing into the MLS system.  The best advice is to enter the parcel number with care and to make sure it is correct.  The correct format for a parcel number is R1234567890.  That is, a letter followed by exactly ten numeric digits.  In Ada County, the letter can be "R", "S", or "O".  In Canyon County, the only letter used is "R".  If the number you are using has any other format, then it is not correct. 
Parcel numbers do not start with "5" or "6".  Parcel numbers do not contain dashes or spaces.  To repeat, parcel numbers start with a letter, and are followed by exactly ten numeric digits.

Sadly, the complicated part.
It is not easy to get the correct number in Canyon County, because two numbers and several formats are in use.  Let's use the Canyon County court house as an example.

Address:              1115 Albany Street, Caldwell
Account Number:  R0502100000
Parcel Number:     C1210031001A

In Canyon County, always use the account number, "R0502100000".  The parcel number is obsolete.

Incorrect practices common in Canyon County include:
  1. If the last five digits of the account number are zeros, they are dropped - "R05021"
  2. A year designator is added to the beginning of the account number - "6R0502100000" or "5R0502100000"
  3. The obsolete parcel number is used - "C1210031001A"
  4. The obsolete parcel number is used, and "5R" or "6R" is added to the beginning - "6RC1210031001A"
  5. Punctuation is added to the account number - "R05021-00000"
  6. Any and all combinations of the above.

Earth Point will try to work around these errors.  However, to ensure that a Canyon County listing is correctly displayed on Google Earth, please enter a correct Account Number.  That is, the letter "R" followed by ten numeric digits, no punctuation, no letters.

Problems with the Canyon County obsolete parcel number.
  1. The obsolete parcel number does not always identify the correct lot.
  2. If road runs through the property, then there could be two separate lot lines in the Canyon County mapping file.  Both lot lines will be displayed only if the listing uses the Account number.  If the obsolete parcel number is entered, then only one of the lot lines will be displayed.

Enter the correct county

Enter the county for which taxes are collected.  If the incorrect county is entered into IMLS, the property will not display on Google Earth.  Data entry errors sometimes occur for properties located close to the Ada-Canyon county line.  A property can have a mailing address that indicates that it is is one county, but it is really located in the other.  For example, some Ada county properties have Nampa addresses, but Nampa is in Canyon County. Always enter the county for which the property is taxed.

Virtual Tours

Earth Point recognizes and links to the following virtual tours:


Please let me know if your listing uses a tour that is not on the list.

Is Earth Point available in other cities?

Exclusive licenses and technical assistance are available. 

Most larger cities have the necessary elements.
  1. High-resolution Google Earth imagery.
  2. Mapping files (called shape files. as provided by the county assessor's office or provincial office.  These files define the property boundaries of each lot.
  3. Access to the IDX data files provided by the local MLS organization.

Just like houses, Earth Point applications are built one at a time.  This is because each county assessor's office has its own way of organizing its property data, each MLS has a different format for the IDX data, and each broker has their unique vision of how Earth Point should be implemented.

Township and Range

Here are the detailed set-up instructions for Township and Range.  The Texas Land Survey and the Coordinate Grids are set up in the same way.  Please call anytime if I can help you set up your computer.  (208) 860-6311  I am happy to give you a tour of Earth Point features anytime.

If you are getting pop-up messages in Google Earth asking you to purchase an Earth Point subscription, then the first step is to delete the offending links from Google Earth.  Once this is done, sign into your Earth Point account and load a new Township and Range grid into Google Earth.

If you are getting pop-up messages, delete the offending links.
  1. On the left side of the Google Earth screen is a window called "Places", which is a folders view of the files in Google Earth.  If you don't have a "Places" window, then from the Google Earth menu, click "View", "Sidebar".
  2. Find all folders with the words "Earth Point" in them, especially "Earth Point Trial" and "Earth Point Please Delete".
  3. If you have trouble finding these folders, press the ctrl-F keys on your keyboard, a small "Find" utility is displayed at the bottom of the places window.  Search for "Earth Point".
  4. Right-click these folders (ctrl-click on the Mac).
  5. Select "Delete" from the pop-up menu.
  6. Repeat until they are all gone.
  7. Press ctrl-F again to hide the "Find" utility.

Get the Township and Range Grid from Earth Point.
  1. Go to the Earth Point Townships page at www.earthpoint.us/Townships.aspx
  2. Make sure you are signed in.  Look in the upper right corner of the web page.  If you see your email address, then you are signed in. Proceed to the next step.  Otherwise, click the "Sign In / Buy Subscription" link.  Enter your email address and password.  On left side of the web page, under "USA Utilities", select "Township & Range" from the menu.
  3. Find the heading "BLM Township, Range, and Section".  It is next to the picture, just down from the top of the page.
  4. Below that, click the "View On Google Earth" button.  This loads the township and range grid onto Google Earth.
  5. If prompted, you want to "Open" the file, not save it.

Hints:
How to save the grid permanently in Google Earth.  By default, Google Earth will delete the townships grid when Google Earth closes.  If this happens, then you have to keep getting new grids from the Earth Point web site.  However, if you save the grid, then it will always be there when Google Earth is opened.
  1. To save it permanently, right-click the folder "Earth Point Townships" (ctrl-click on the Mac).
  2. From the pop-up menu, select "Save To My Places".

How to turn the grid on and off.
  1. To the left of the folder name "Earth Point Townships" is a check box.
  2. Click the check box to turn the grid on and off.


Texas Land Survey

Here are the detailed set-up instructions for Texas Land Survey.  Township and Range and the Coordinate Grids are set up in the same way.  Please call anytime if I can help you set up your computer.  (208) 860-6311  I am happy to give you a tour of Earth Point features anytime.

If you are getting pop-up messages in Google Earth asking you to purchase an Earth Point subscription, then the first step is to delete the offending links from Google Earth.  Once this is done, sign into your Earth Point account and load a new Texas Land Survey grid into Google Earth.

If you are getting pop-up messages, delete the offending links.
  1. On the left side of the Google Earth screen is a window called "Places", which is a folders view of the files in Google Earth.  If you don't have a "Places" window, then from the Google Earth menu, click "View", "Sidebar".
  2. Find all folders with the words "Earth Point" in them, especially "Earth Point Trial" and "Earth Point Please Delete".
  3. If you have trouble finding these folders, press the ctrl-F keys on your keyboard, a small "Find" utility is displayed at the bottom of the places window.  Search for "Earth Point".
  4. Right-click these folders (ctrl-click on the Mac).
  5. Select "Delete" from the pop-up menu.
  6. Repeat until they are all gone.
  7. Press ctrl-F again to hide the "Find" utility.

Get the Texas Land Survey Grid from Earth Point.
  1. Go to the Earth Point Texas Land Survey page at www.earthpoint.us/TexasLandSurvey.aspx
  2. Make sure you are signed in.  Look in the upper right corner of the web page.  If you see your email address, then you are signed in. Proceed to the next step.  Otherwise, click the "Sign In / Buy Subscription" link.  Enter your email address and password.  On left side of the web page, under "USA Utilities", select "Texas Land Survey" from the menu.
  3. Find the heading "Texas Land Survey Abstracts".  It is next to the picture, just down from the top of the page.
  4. Below that, click the "View On Google Earth" button.  This loads the Texas Land Survey grid onto Google Earth.
  5. If prompted, you want to "Open" the file, not save it.

Hints:
How to save the grid permanently in Google Earth.  By default, Google Earth will delete the land survey grid when Google Earth closes.  If this happens, then you have to keep getting new grids from the Earth Point web site.  However, if you save the grid, then it will always be there when Google Earth is opened.
  1. To save it permanently, right-click the folder "Earth Point Texas Land Survey" (ctrl-click on the Mac).
  2. From the pop-up menu, select "Save To My Places".

How to turn the grid on and off.
  1. To the left of the folder name "Earth Point Texas Land Survey" is a check box.
  2. Click the check box to turn the grid on and off.


Coordinate Grids

Here are the detailed set-up instructions for Coordinate Grids.  Township and Range and Texas Land Survey are set up in the same way.  Please call anytime if I can help you set up your computer.  (208) 860-6311  I am happy to give you a tour of Earth Point features anytime.

If you are getting pop-up messages in Google Earth asking you to purchase an Earth Point subscription, then the first step is to delete the offending links from Google Earth.  Once this is done, sign into your Earth Point account and load a new Coordinate Grids into Google Earth.

If you are getting pop-up messages, delete the offending links.
  1. On the left side of the Google Earth screen is a window called "Places", which is a folders view of the files in Google Earth.  If you don't have a "Places" window, then from the Google Earth menu, click "View", "Sidebar".
  2. Find all folders with the words "Earth Point" in them, especially "Earth Point Trial" and "Earth Point Please Delete".
  3. If you have trouble finding these folders, press the ctrl-F keys on your keyboard, a small "Find" utility is displayed at the bottom of the places window.  Search for "Earth Point".
  4. Right-click these folders (ctrl-click on the Mac).
  5. Select "Delete" from the pop-up menu.
  6. Repeat until they are all gone.
  7. Press ctrl-F again to hide the "Find" utility.

Get the Coordinate Grid from Earth Point.
  1. Go to the Earth Point Coordinate Grids page at www.earthpoint.us/Grids.aspx
  2. Make sure you are signed in.  Look in the upper right corner of the web page.  If you see your email address, then you are signed in. Proceed to the next step.  Otherwise, click the "Sign In / Buy Subscription" link.  Enter your email address and password.  On left side of the web page, under "Worldwide Utilities", select "Coordinate Grids" from the menu.
  3. Click the button corresponding to the grid you wish to view.  This loads the grid onto Google Earth.
  4. If prompted, you want to "Open" the file, not save it.

Hints:
How to save the grid permanently in Google Earth.  By default, Google Earth will delete the grid when Google Earth closes.  If this happens, then you have to keep getting new grids from the Earth Point web site.  However, if you save the grid, then it will always be there when Google Earth is opened.
  1. To save it permanently, right-click the folder "Earth Point Grid" (ctrl-click on the Mac).
  2. From the pop-up menu, select "Save To My Places".

How to turn the grid on and off.
  1. To the left of the folder name "Earth Point Grid" is a check box.
  2. Click the check box to turn the grid on and off.
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