What happened to the Earth view in Google Maps on Chrome?

Question

A couple of months ago, Google Maps on the Chrome browser lost the "Earth" view mode. I can no longer get the 3D view or zoom out to see the real time cloud cover. All it has is the 'satellite' view. At first I thought this was a bug they would eventually fix, but nothing so far.

Google maps on Firefox still has the earth view feature for some reason.

Earth view with 3D is working again with newer version of Chrome. (Version 55.0.2883.87 m (64-bit)) — P a u l, Jan 16 '17 at 21:17
Earth mode is now [here](https://earth.google.com) in case you are searching for it. — Michael S., Dec 21 '17 at 06:33
This is off-topic for [su] as it is referring to the web app, Google Maps. — Burgi, Dec 21 '17 at 09:02
I am missing the 3000 points to vote for migrate. Maybe at a later point in time. — Michael S., Dec 21 '17 at 10:33
Why is this tagged `[google-earth]`? The question appears to only be about Google Maps? — I say Reinstate Monica, Dec 24 '17 at 17:56

score 3 · Answer 1 · answered Oct 25 '16 at 01:48

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It is still there, but you have to ensure that "Hardware Acceleration" is Enabled inside Chrome settings:

chrome://settings

click Show Advanced Settings
scroll down to the "System" section and check "use hardware acceleration when available"

Then, restart chrome and you should now have the "Earth" option

answered Oct 25 '16 at 01:48

Mike Diglio

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Didn't work. It was already set .. I unset it and reset, no difference. – P a u l Oct 25 '16 at 05:02
@Paul is Chrome up-to-date? If I remove the option, "Earth" feature is removed and replaced by Satellite." Do you have WebGL enabled inside of chrome://flags ? Have you tried reinstalling chrome? – Mike Diglio Oct 25 '16 at 14:17
I enabled webgl, no difference. I'm using Version 52.0.2743.82 m (64-bit). Like I said, this started after an update a few months ago. It had been working for years! Another bug started at that time, my start page on opening chrome, google adv. search, loads as only dark rectangles? I have to go to another site, not google, and then back to the start page to load it correctly. The google forums have been useless on this issue. – P a u l Oct 25 '16 at 19:10

Jareon C · Answer 2 · 2017-01-15T10:49:16.000

I have the same problem. Window 10, Chrome 55, Intel HD4000/Radeon HD7600M. No earth mode in Google Map only Satelite when I open from Chreom (and Opera) but no problem at all when I open from Firefox, MS Edge or even oldie IE. It's very weird because when I boot from another partition (on my old HDD) with the same drivers and softwares, it works fine . I tried all suggestions but still doesn't work.

Just minute ago I found this suggestion and it solved my problem. Just enable "Override software rendering list" in Chrome.

https://productforums.google.com/d/msg/maps/I8snLYto720/R1DLH-T5BwAJ

score 2 · Answer 3 · edited Feb 03 '17 at 19:48

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The problem seems to be tied to WebGL being disabled in Chrome ... the graphics card may be "blacklisted". Try this:

Type this into address bar: chrome://flags
Enable 'Override software rendering list' ... should be at the top.
Re-launch Chrome.

Worked for me...hope it helps.

edited Feb 03 '17 at 19:48

Scott - Слава Україні

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answered Feb 03 '17 at 17:38

Derek Reid

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+1, Hardware acceleration was already enabled, this is the solution that worked for me. – Kevin Wiskia Feb 02 '18 at 17:41
Did not suffice in my case. This worked finally : http://maps.google.com/?force=clear – peterd Dec 10 '18 at 04:26
@peterd Only solution that worked. Shame it's in a comment. – Marcel Besixdouze Apr 27 '21 at 17:15

What happened to the Earth view in Google Maps on Chrome?

3 Answers3