Obviously, having Google Maps show us everything in 3D is much better than having a basic map. We will be able to locate ourselves much better, by being able to recognize different establishments around the address we are looking for..
Why don't we see 3D maps by default? They consume too many resources, they require a lot of graphics, so by default Google Maps shows us the 2D version. Although it is very easy to change it and this is what we are going to show you a little below, both on computers and mobile devices.
How to make Google Maps 3D on a computer
The first thing we will have to do is open our favorite web browser and go to the Google Maps website. Once we are here we are going to click on Layers, which is located in the lower left part of the map..
Several options will appear, the one that we will have to select is the one that says More.
Next, we are going to click on Satellite and we will have to make sure that Globe View is checked. If the option is grayed out, in the next section we will give the solution..
We will click on 3D at the bottom right of the screen.
In case we want to go back to the classic view, we simply go to the same section and we will see that instead of appearing 3D, it will appear 2D.
The way to handle the map is exactly the same as the classic version. So we won't have problems controlling the different tools that Google Maps offers.
Turn on hardware acceleration in Chrome.
In case we can't activate Globe View, we won't be able to make Google Maps 3D. It is one of the most common reasons for the problem. So we are going to open Chrome and click on the three-dot icon that is located in the upper right part of the browser.
Next, a new menu is displayed and we are going to choose “Settings”.
Here we will have to click on Advanced options in the left sidebar.
Once we are in the advanced settings, we will look for System.
We'll need to make sure the Use Hardware Acceleration switch is turned on. In case it is not, we will proceed to activate it.
After activating it, we will have to click on Relaunch to restart Chrome and for the changes to be applied.
Google Maps 3D on mobile devices
We are going to start the application and click on the Type of map icon.
Next, we will press in 3D. Something that we must consider is that if we are in the Satellite or Terrain view, when we choose 3D it will change to the default view.
Here we will see that shading is added to various objects to give a 3D touch. Obviously, this is not as incredible as the 3D images that we can see on the desktop version. Although there is a way to get it on a phone, although we must follow a few extra steps.
3D maps on mobile devices thanks to Google Earth
To achieve this we are going to have to download Google Earth for iOS and Android , when we open it, we will go directly to the Search icon.
We will write the location that we need to see and we will choose the appropriate result for our needs.
The application will go directly to the location and if the view is not in 3D, simply press the 3D option.
