Can I see my house on Google Earth? How to see a live view of an address

Google has some amazing tools, such as Google Earth. But can you see your house using the service? The answer, for most people, is a resounding yes. So let us show you how to view an address through Google's tools. 

There are a number of ways to do this, of course, with Google Earth differing from Google Maps and Street View, but each has its own uses in researching a top-down and front-on view of a specific location. 

How to view your house on Google

First thing's first: head to the Google Earth address, whether on mobile or desktop, which is at https://earth.google.com. It will automatically adapt for what you're using to view, but we find the larger real-estate of a big screen most beneficial. 

To the left of the screen is a dark grey bar, with various tools. Hit the magnifying glass one to commence a search. Then simply type in your postal or zip code, hit enter and watch as Earth spins into action, its animation taking you to a top-down view of where you live. 

We've used the example of an old workplace office in this version, as we certainly don't live in a giant apartment in zone one London (maybe in dreams, but that's about all). As you can see from the pictures, Google Earth adds a 3D effect where available, layering images on over three-dimensional structures for a more realistic effect. This won't happen at all locations, of course, based on availability of related imagery. 

Knock on the front door?

Beyond Google Earth and its 3D-styling, you can use the system much like Google Maps (or, indeed, just use Maps in the first instance) to drag-and-drop the little orange person from the right corner of the screen onto an available street. That street will light up blue and, once you release the mouse, you'll then be taken in by another animation taking you to street level. 

These Street View images are taken from one of the many Google cars that have driven around millions of miles of the world's streets. You can navigate between shots using the directional arrows, click-and--drag to get a better view, or hit the '+' symbol to zoom in. Useful for gleaning house numbers on specific buildings, as and when useful.

So can you view your house on Google Earth? The quick answer is yes, of course. But there will be exceptions: places excluded by the service, or places too newly constructed to have been assumed into Google's systems. But, in most instances, this won't be an issue for most.