Satellite view
The overhead view, with labels. Search any address, drop a pin, and switch down to Street View when you want to know what it is actually like on the ground.
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Times Square, New York
40.75800, -73.98550 · Map data © Google, imagery © Google
What the overhead view is good for
Shape. From above you can see how a place is organised: whether the streets form a grid, how a city relates to its river or its coast, where the industry sits and where the parks are. None of that is visible from the pavement.
A few places only make sense this way. Palm Jumeirah in Dubai is a palm tree from above and an ordinary suburban cul-de-sac at street level. Barcelona's Eixample grid, with its chamfered corners, reads as a pattern from the air and as an unusually wide junction from the ground. Looking at both is the fastest way to understand either.
What it is not good for
Texture. Satellite imagery cannot tell you whether a street is pleasant, whether the shops are open, what the buildings are made of or how steep the hill is. That is what the Street View explorer is for, and switching between the two is the point of having both here.
Imagery dates
Satellite imagery is not live. It is composited from passes taken at different times, so a building site in one tile may be a finished building in the next, and the date varies by region. Google shows the capture information on the map itself.
Questions
How do I see satellite view of my house?
Type your address into the search bar and press Go. The map opens in hybrid satellite view with labels on, and you can zoom in from there. Nothing is recorded and no account is involved.
What is the difference between satellite and hybrid view?
Satellite is the imagery on its own. Hybrid adds road names and place labels over the top, which makes it far easier to work out what you are looking at. This page opens in hybrid.
Can I switch between satellite and Street View?
Yes, with the pills above the map. Satellite answers what the shape of a place is; Street View answers what it feels like to stand in it. Some places, Palm Jumeirah in Dubai for instance, only make sense if you look at both.