Using the control menu

Find the top menu

Google Earth has a lot to offer, and you can access extra features via the top menu.

The menu appears above the globe and map, and includes five options, the Search bar, and some icons.

Find the map controls

On the bottom right of the screen are the map controls. You can learn about what these do in our Exploring Google Earth course.

For now, however, we are going to concentrate on the top menu we spoke of in the last slide.

Explore the top menu

Look at the top of the screen, and you'll find the following features:

• the File, View, Add, Tools, and Help drop-down menus
• the Search bar
• the Placemark icon
• the Path or polygon icon
• the Measure distance and area icon

In the bottom left of the screen you’ll see the Layers button, which is another important control.

We’ll explain how the most important ones can each help you get more from Google Earth.

The Layers button

Clicking the Layers button displays a range of options for controlling your Google Earth experience, adding information to maps, as well as settings options for how Google Earth operates.

You can also open these options by clicking on View in the top menu and choosing Layers.

Additional layers

When you click on the Layers button, a pop-up menu appears. You can use your mouse to scroll this menu to see Additional layers that include things like 3D buildings, photos, and even a timelapse of Earth since 1984.

We’ll look at Additional layers more closely in the upcoming Add map styles and photos activity later in this course.

The Search bar

Search is the easiest way to find things on Google Earth. Enter an exact street address or a locality, and it will whisk you there.

Normally, Google Earth glides you to your destination smoothly over several seconds. But if you prefer, you can Turn off fly animation in Settings to snap to your new location. Click on Tools in the top menu, and then click Settings.

eSafety tip

Predictive search anticipates what you're typing, and it is location-aware.

So, if you search for Tony's Pizza when you're looking at a map of Sydney, you'll get a different result than if you were looking at a map of Melbourne.

Google Drive Projects

Click on File in the top menu and then choose New Drive Project. This lets you do a range of things, from saving locations in Google Earth, just like bookmarks, to building a slideshow incorporating various views of different places, and even including your own photos. You can even share your projects with other people.

To use this feature, you need to sign in to Google Drive using a Google Account. You can learn more about this in our Google cloud apps course.

Measure

How far is it from your home to the local shops? How far is it from New York to London? With this icon you can easily measure the distance between places, and also the area of various spaces. Just click on the icon, then click on the places you want to measure.

Well done!

You have completed the Using the control menu activity.

You’ve learned that the control menu icons are always visible along the top of the screen, giving you easy access to features like Search, Measure, and a number of drop-down menus. You’ve also learned about the Layer button.

Next up, the Add map styles and photos activity will help you get a lot more useful information from Google Earth.