Yes, you can pre-load and use Google Earth Offline! Export the caches and you can use them later. Try HARVESTER to automatically cache all the data you need up to 2048 MB. This does not work with 5.1, they now lock you out if you don’t authenticate on the internet every time you launch. Copy over the cache files (unzip in the right spot.
reg file you made on the other machine.ģ.
Install 5.0 on a machine never on the internet.Ģ. dat.index, and we also bring over the Icons folder) residing in the path in All Users Application Data.ġ. Give yourself a tour to build up the cache.Ħ.
Export the Google Earth Plus registry keys.ĥ. Edit the Google Earth Plus registry keys to move the CachePath and KMLPath to C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Application Data\Google\GoogleEarthģ. Install 5.0 on a machine on the internet.Ģ. We successfully use that older version with these steps to run GE on a machine that will never go on the internet:ġ.
The latest version that works offline is 7.1968. This is despite a dialog box that says it will work offline. It doesn’t work in offline mode in version 5.1, you just get a black screen. Even better, she lived quite nearby, so I was able to zoom in to where she could see her own house - and their camper trailer parked in the drive! She was so excited she could scarcely write Google Earth in her notebook so she could get her husband to download it.Īnd I still think she somehow missed my explanation that the view was not live… As it happened, I’d used a placemark for a relative there so when I moved GE to North Van, the detail was excellent. She was fascinated, and it turned out she was going home to North Vancouver. This really caught her attention, and she made no attempt to be surreptitious.
When I closed Excel, GE was already running under it, and I repositioned the view to match where we were. I’d been working on a quote and the woman next to me kept “peeking” at the spreadsheet. I often travel with my GPS so I can be quite accurate about where I am even if clouds obscure the view.Ī couple of years ago I’d done this for a flight between Toronto and Vancouver. I like to “burn” detail into my cache for airplane flights: I make a temporary set of placemarks and then run a looping tour between them to get the detail where I will need it. But, Google Earth can still work even in those remote places. There are still places without broadband or even cell phone connectivity. I’ve used it personally for driving in a car, traveling by plane, and while sailing. The GE offline capability can be really useful. There is also a way you can save the cache files to extend the amount of area you can store ( see this forum thread),
FreeGeographyTools has written some nice tutorials for some free tools for loading your GE cache in a more automated fashion – see here, here, here, and here.
It can be a pain to move around and capture an area of imagery at full high resolution and load up your cache properly. Avoid turning other layers if you only need imagery. If you’re going on a long trip, cache in high resolution imagery for just the areas where you plan to use GE for close viewing. The more data you cache, the sooner the cache will fill, so be cautious. Also, make sure you save any KML files you might want to use in files on the same computer. Turn on other layers for information you want cached (for example: ‘ Roads‘ and ‘ Borders‘). It’s important you zoom to the closest view you think you’ll use. The most recent things you have looked at will be what’s in your cache. All you need to do, while you have an Internet connection, is to move to the area you want data for and zoom into that area.
You WILL need to do a little preparation first.īy default, Google Earth uses a maximum of 2GB of cache disk space. Or you can use it for doing a demonstration somewhere without an Internet connection. If you anticipate taking your computer (or iPhone) somewhere where you won’t have an Internet connection, you can still use GE. It even works with your mobile devices with the Google Earth app. This includes the aerial/satellite imagery, the 3D terrain, and more. This speeds up your experience even when you have broadband Internet, but it also is the secret to offline GE use.īy using the GE cache, you can still use most of Google Earth’s features while on an African safari, while driving your car, while boating offshore, or just camping on a mountain. The key is the Google Earth cache file which stores imagery and other data locally on your hard drive. One of Google Earth’s amazing features is it’s ability to be used when Internet is not available.