Google Earth
Ranked 2 of 4 mapping apps by recommenders
People recommend it for exploring the globe, importing GPS tracks and experiencing scale in VR; critics say the web and desktop versions run slowly and feel dated.
People recommend it for exploring the globe, importing GPS tracks and experiencing scale in VR; critics say the web and desktop versions run slowly and feel dated.
49 people gave an opinion
- recommend it
- 31
- criticize it
- 18
- approval share
- 63%
Recommended in 9 of 13 months
- November 2025: recommended
- December 2025: not recommended
- January 2026: not recommended
- February 2026: recommended
- March 2026: recommended
- April 2026: not recommended
- May 2026: recommended
- June 2026: recommended
- July 2026: recommended
- August 2026: recommended
- September 2026: recommended
- October 2026: recommended
- November 2026: not recommended (month in progress)
Why it doesn’t carry the badge
- 31 people recommend itNeeds 10 or more, met.
- 1.7 recommenders for every criticNeeds 2 to 1 or better, not met.
- Recommended in 9 of 13 monthsNeeds 4 or more, met.
The same three rules apply to every product, and the badge can’t be bought. How the badge works
What people say about it
The reasons people give, with the number of comments that give each one. Open a reason to read what they said.
Why people recommend it
Each mark is one comment
Immersive VR experience
“Load up Google Earth VR, plop yourself in front of your childhood home and feel more than you expected.”
Comment from 13 Nov 2025 in “Steam Frame” “VR gives you SCALE in a way you simply can’t perceive on a flat screen.”
Comment from 24 Sep 2026 in “My weird new hobby: Wandering around Tokyo on Google Maps” “It's actually really cool in VR. You feel like Godzilla.”
Comment from 26 Feb 2026 in “Google Street View in 2026” - Comment from 15 Jun 2026 in “Google Flight Simulator”
- Comment from 15 Sep 2026 in “Steam Frame starts at $1059”
Fun for exploring the globe
“I was hooked on making the globe go round and round and zooming into strange and wonderful places.”
Comment from 30 Jul 2026 in “Ask HN: What have you been curious about?” “This site combined with Google Earth got me hooked on aerial photography”
Comment from 17 Jun 2026 in “Abandoned and Little-Known Airfields” “geek out/recommend a Google Earth/Wikipedia rabbit hole”
Comment from 1 Jun 2026 in “Handmade Hawaiian Islands Map” - Comment from 9 Nov 2025 in “Ask HN: How would you set up a child’s first Linux computer?”
Handles large datasets well
“Earth Desktop is useful for one thing: mapping large datasets onto a globe.”
Comment from 18 Sep 2026 in “Google Earth to be axed next year [video]” “The desktop version feels way snappier once the datasets get big.”
Comment from 9 Jul 2026 in “Google Earth Pro desktop downloads will end in 2027” Builds spatial sense and scale
“very spatially informative & makes directional intuition memorable upon arrival at the real world destination”
Comment from 29 Mar 2026 in “VR Is Not Dead” “VR gives you SCALE in a way you simply can’t perceive on a flat screen.”
Comment from 24 Sep 2026 in “My weird new hobby: Wandering around Tokyo on Google Maps”
What people warn about
Each mark is one comment
Slow performance on web and desktop
“it doesn't work on linux either. (Technically it does, just incredibly laggy compared to chrome)”
Comment from 6 Jul 2026 in “Google Chrome Installed a 4GB AI Model on Your PC” “It wasn't designed to properly squander^Wuse current computing power”
Comment from 9 Jul 2026 in “Google Earth Pro desktop downloads will end in 2027” “Didn't realize google earth's performance had gotten that bad”
Comment from 28 Aug 2026 in “The mechanics of the Nepali flash flood” - Comment from 29 Aug 2026 in ““It works better in the app””
Political place-name and policy concerns
“Their display of "Gulf of America" without "Gulf of Mexico" and "Lake America" without "Lake Ontario" is at odds with their declared policy.”
Comment from 29 Oct 2026 in “How Google determines the names for bodies of water in Google Earth (2008)” “they also haven't exactly taken a purely principled stance in the past either”
Comment from 29 Oct 2026 in “How Google determines the names for bodies of water in Google Earth (2008)” “All I'm seeing is the Trumpy names no matter where I look.”
Comment from 29 Oct 2026 in “How Google determines the names for bodies of water in Google Earth (2008)” - Comment from 29 Oct 2026 in “How Google determines the names for bodies of water in Google Earth (2008)”
Old base, rarely updated
“Google Earth VR was essentially abandoned and hasn't been updated at all since 2018”
Comment from 26 Feb 2026 in “Google Street View in 2026” “The desktop version is just too old, built on a 20-plus-year-old base.”
Comment from 9 Jul 2026 in “Google Earth Pro desktop downloads will end in 2027”
Other mapping apps people recommend
The three most recommended other mapping apps, with the same counts for each, so you can compare like for like. The tick on each bar marks the 2 to 1 line the badge needs.
| Product | Recommend | Criticize | Approval | Months | Owned | Badge |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| StreetComplete | 93 | 20 | 82% | 10 | 2 mo3 owners | Approved |
| Google EarthThis page | 31 | 18 | 63% | 9 | — | — |
| OS9Map | 9 | 1 | 90% | 1 | — | — |
| Bing Maps | 5 | 1 | 83% | 4 | — | — |
What people said
40 of the 51 comments that mention it, newest first. Each links to the original comment.
“All I'm seeing is the Trumpy names no matter where I look.”
“they also haven't exactly taken a purely principled stance in the past either”
“Their display of "Gulf of America" without "Gulf of Mexico" and "Lake America" without "Lake Ontario" is at odds with their declared policy.”
“They violated their own policy with the gulf then.”
“google maps and google earth were revolutionary when they came out”
“The city is just so damn walkable and liveable on the street level, which comes through even in a headset.”
“VR gives you SCALE in a way you simply can’t perceive on a flat screen.”
“Earth Desktop is useful for one thing: mapping large datasets onto a globe.”
“I also love Google Earth vr on the quest.”
“I've poured hours into it and it can be an almost emotional experience.”
“Fortunately Google Earth is still a sphere not a cyllinder.”
“2 year old Google Earth imagery”
“Several Google apps do not work for me in Chrome (Maps, Earth)”
“Google Earth is a fantastic computer program”
“When I attempt to load earth.google.com it is total dogshit”
“Didn't realize google earth's performance had gotten that bad”
“"Trusted view of the world" but you could make bomb craters in Gaza”
“I was hooked on making the globe go round and round and zooming into strange and wonderful places.”
“no other software exists with such easy-to-use tools for importing GPS tracks, creating custom points, and exporting KMZ files”
“It wasn't designed to properly squander^Wuse current computing power”
“The desktop version is just too old, built on a 20-plus-year-old base.”
“The desktop version feels way snappier once the datasets get big.”
“The Google Earth Pro desktop app is a good one and I still use it all the time.”
“it doesn't work on linux either. (Technically it does, just incredibly laggy compared to chrome)”
“This site combined with Google Earth got me hooked on aerial photography”
“Google Earth pro is still available for download with the flight simulator, which is much better than the new web version.”
“Google Earth would make more sense because it can bring a more realistic environment.”
“Google Earth is a delight to experience in VR”
“so much better than the webapp”
“The flight simulator was always my favorite part of the desktop app”
“geek out/recommend a Google Earth/Wikipedia rabbit hole”
“once upon a time Google Earth refused to work”
“very spatially informative & makes directional intuition memorable upon arrival at the real world destination”
“Google Earth VR was essentially abandoned and hasn't been updated at all since 2018”
“It's actually really cool in VR. You feel like Godzilla.”
“Google Earth and Google Maps 3D satellite view on desktop web have essentially the same rendering of Street View”
“Ok, it works better at that range--it's the resolution. Great at long range, inferior to a topo map at shorter range.”
“Google Earth effectively treats zoom like altitude only.”
“Load up Google Earth VR, plop yourself in front of your childhood home and feel more than you expected.”
“Curiosity apps like Google earth.”
Counts come from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026. How we count. Report a mistake.