Using Google™ Earth on Phil's Listings
To use Google Earth, download the Google Earth Engine. Mac users download this Engine.
Whenever you search Phil's MLS® listings, you will see a small grey icon and the word "map" beneath each listing. This is your link to Google™ Map and Google™ Earth.
When you select the map icon, a new window opens to an Official Royal LePage Map. You will see an icon of a house showing where the property is located on the map.
There are now several things you can do to enhance your view of the property:
- In the top right corner, toggle between "map" (default view), "satellite" (satellite photo) or "hybrid" (shows major highways and roads) views.
- Use the zoom and pan controls on the left side of the screen to move around the map or to zoom in or out.
- Select the house icon for more options. The options are:
- Email Map Link
- Move It (for Realtors Only)
- Get more details and photos.
Now the fun begins! Select get more details and photos. A new window opens with the listing details. You will see the Google Earth icon and the link See this listing in 3D! next to it. Select this link to open the Google Earth Engine, and watch the show. From the view of the world, the engine zooms into the location of the property where you can manipulate the various controls to look around. You can also overlay different layers available in the left menu to see where there might be nearby restaurants, accommodations, etc.
New to Google™ Earth? Follow the Read more... to read a description of the other ways to manipulate the Google Earth view. There is a screenshot, also.
Select the small map on the right. Or right click on the image and select open in a new window or tab. This opens the screenshop of Google Earth. The menus on the left side of the Google Earth program allow you to gather more information about a particular place or business. You can save the places you wish to refer back to, and you can get travel directions. At the bottom is the layers menu. Here you can select various options to view on the map. Some of these layer options are listed again below the map itself, like roads. Check the roads box to have the routes and names of the main roads appear on the map. It's that simple!
But, wait! There's more. See all those blue buttons and sliders below the map? They help you manipulate the map and it's view, also, but in a different way. They are, from left to right:
- Zoom Slider
- Rotate Left
- Reset North - This will reorient the map to the compass.
- Toggle Button - Moves the view of the map up, down, left or right.
- Rotate Right
- Reset Tilt - This resets the tilt slider on the right to the flat earth default view.
- Tilt Slider - Move the slider down to watch the map tilt into a 3D perspective.
- Add a Placemark - This will be added to Places in the left menu.
Now, play around with the zoom, tilt and rotate buttons. You can spin around to get a look around the neighbourhood, or the city, depending on how far in or out the zoom is set. When you are finished with Google Earth, close it. A window will pop up to ask if you want to save your items (what you've been looking at during the session) in the Temporary Folder to My Places. Select yes if you want to return to the same places at another time, or select no and the program will close.
For an in depth introduction to Google Earth, read the Google Earth User Guide.