You can view our maps in Google Earth client as well!

• Download / open
  • View OpenMaps in Google Earth

  (Note: do not save this small file to your disk but open it directly. Although it it's only a link to our maps it can change at any time and you should always use the newest version.)

  • Download Google Earth

  (Note: version 4.2 for windows (stable and working!) can be downloaded from here.)

• About

It is a 'network link onstop' version. It means that you don't have to download a large amount of data but only a small file that tells GE what to do. GE will download data on demand as you move, rotate or zoom the map, but it won't download anything until you stop moving the map. After one second GE refreshes the view by downloading only the visible part of the big map data set.
Another advantage of this method that the machine that serves data for you traces the changes of your view and gives new data only if your view has moved far enough from previous refresh point. For example, if you look at the Earth from 7 km of altitude and 90° of angle and you zoom in to 3km then server will respond a 'not changed' message instead of sending the very same datas over the network since you see almost the same area of Earth surface.

• FAQ:

First of all notice that
- GE is a rather resource consuming application so you need an up to date hardware to run it smoothly
- GE is still under heavy development. It always have new versions and features and there isn't enough time for community to test and discover all of the bugs and misfeatures what GE have. So GE is not a very stable application
- GE depends on 3D accelerators: your video card and driver, and OpenGL / DirectX versions. Any problems with these components may cause GE to fail or crash

Q: Why Google Earth does not display roads and points? I see 'OpenMaps - onStop version' icon on the Places panel but no map data was downloaded anyway.
A: Probably you are using a 4.3 (beta?) version of Google Earth client. It has (at least) one bug: it does not always start fetching of network links. Solution: right click the 'Map objects' folder under 'OpenMaps - onStop version' icon on the Places panel, and choose Properties. This will trigger GE to download the first data set. After closing Properties everything should go well.

Q: Refreshing a map view takes a lot of time (longer than 5-10 sec). During refreshing the network link icon beside 'Map objects' diddles horizontally. Why?
A: You may have too narrow bandwith to our server. GE dowloads 100-500kbyte data at one time and you have to wait for it.

Q: Refreshing a map view takes a lot of time (longer than 5-10 sec). During this time the network link icon beside 'Map objects' is yellow and stopped. Map is not draggable, 'freezed'. Why?
A: GE uses XML to transfer map data. XML is not a good choice: it is textual (big) and it consumes a lot of CPU to parse the data. While your machine parses map data GE cannot respond your actions. You might need a stronger computer with faster processor.

Q: GE draws white outlines of settlements instead of covering them with a mostly transparent orange surface.
A: Your OpenGL or DirectX driver or setting is buggy. Install newer drivers and the latest DirectX. Or try to switch to DirectX from OpenGL or vice versa.

Q: Everything worked fine but after several map movements and refreshes the map lines and points has disappeared. After changing 'Eye alt' by an adequatly big value the map lines appears again.
A: Refreshing consists of these steps: 1) GE asks the server for new data 2) server generates the new map and zips it into one file 3) server memorizes your view and send the file for you 4) GE receives and unpacks the file 5) GE parses new map data 6) GE draws new lines and points.
If you move the map after the 3) step but before the 6) step then GE won't draw new map for you but the server thinks that you've got and seen the refreshed map. Unfortunately, GE lacks the support of feedback to server so there's no way to let the server know about the interrupted refreshing procedure.

Q: Why do I see several white circles for various types of points of interests?
A: We've got ~100 types of points of interest and we haven't found icons for all of them yet.