Using Google Maps, Google Earth and Street View

Last Modified: December 17, 2015

Thanks for considering Google Maps, Google Earth and Street View for your project! These guidelines are for non-commercial use except for the limited use cases described below; if you want to use Google Maps, Google Earth, or Street View for other commercial purposes, please contact the Google Maps for Work sales team. “Commercial purposes” means “use for sale or revenue-generating purposes”.

We created this page to clarify questions we’ve received from users over the years regarding uses of our mapping tools in everything from marketing and promotional materials, films, television programs, books, academic journals, and much more.

Generally speaking, as long as you’re following our Terms of Service and you’re attributing properly, we’re cool with your using our maps and imagery; in fact, we love seeing all of the creative applications of Google Maps, Google Earth and Street View! But we know you’re looking for more specifics to ensure you’re using our maps and imagery correctly.

As you dive into the information below, we suggest starting with the general guidelines at the top, as these will apply to all projects. Then feel free to click directly to the section that applies to you.

general guidelines

The Basics

Google Maps and Google Earth’s “Content” (as defined in the Google Earth/Google Maps Additional Terms of Service) includes everything you’d find in these products: map and terrain data, imagery, business listings, traffic, reviews and other related information provided by Google, its licensors, and users.

These guidelines cover your use of the Content—with one exception. There are some particular guidelines regarding your use of Street View imagery available from both Google Maps and Google Earth. Please read the section below for instructions on how Street View imagery may or may not be used.

Terms of Service

To help you figure out whether your use of the Content is acceptable, first read the following documents:

Your use of the Content is first and foremost governed by the licenses above.

Fair Use

Apart from any license granted to you by Google, your use of the Content may be acceptable under principles of "fair use." Fair use is a concept under copyright law in the U.S. that, generally speaking, permits you to use a copyrighted work in certain ways without obtaining a license from the copyright holder.

There are similar, although generally more limited, concepts in other countries' copyright laws, including a concept known as "fair dealing" in a number of countries. Google can’t tell you if your use of the Content from our products would be fair use or would be considered fair dealing; these are legal analyses that depend on all of the specific facts of your proposed use. We suggest you speak with an attorney if you have questions regarding fair use of copyrighted works.

Written permission

Due to limited resources and high demand, we're unable to sign any letter or contract specifying that your project or use has our explicit permission. As long as you follow the guidance on this page, and attribute the Content correctly, feel free to move forward with your project.

Attribution

All uses of the Content must provide attribution to both Google and our data providers. We require clear, visible attribution when the Content is shown. You may not move the attribution to the end credits or fade it out after a few seconds.

Note that if you embed a classic map, Street View panorama or My Map; use one of our APIs on the web or in an application; or export a video or JPEG from Google Earth Pro, the necessary attribution is already baked into the map and no further credit is needed. Learn more about how to properly credit, as well as how to identify providers, on our attribution guidelines page

If you are unwilling to meet our attribution requirements, contact our data provider(s) directly to inquire about purchasing the rights to use the Content directly. You’ll find provider contact information listed on their websites.

Personalizing your map

You may annotate our maps with additional information—like points, lines or labels. In fact, many of our tools have built-in features that make it easy to do just that. For example, Google My Maps lets you draw lines and shapes on a Google map. We also offer a Styled Maps API that allows you to edit the colors of individual map components (for example, changing water to purple), as well as toggle visibility for each component (for example, making roads invisible). If neither of those fit your needs, you may save an image from Google Earth and use Photoshop to add custom text labels.

While we encourage annotations, you must not significantly alter how Google Maps, Google Earth or Street View would look online. For example, you're not allowed to make any changes to the colors of the product interface or alter how imagery appears (such as adding clouds or other natural elements, blurring, etc.).

uses in print

Google Maps and Google Earth have built-in print functionality. You may print Content for non-commercial use and enlarge it (for example, a map with directions). In all uses where you will distribute printed materials that include the Content, first be sure to read the general guidelines above, especially with regard to fair use and attribution.

Proposed use	OK to use?	Additional information
Books	Yes	It’s fine to use a handful of images, as long as you’re not distributing more than 5,000 copies or using the Content in guidebooks.
Periodicals	Yes	This includes newspapers, magazines and journals.
Reports and presentations	Yes	This includes research papers, internal reports, presentations, proposals and other related professional documents.
Guidebooks	No	You may not use the Content as a core part of printed navigational material (for example, tour books).
Consumer goods	No	This includes retail products or retail product packaging (for example, t-shirts, beach towels, shower curtains, mugs, posters, stationery, etc.).
Print advertisements	No	See the advertisements section for more guidance on digital and TV uses.

Note that we cannot provide high-resolution or vector screen captures of Google Maps; however, you may use Google Earth Pro to save and print high-resolution JPEGs of satellite imagery. Images in Google Earth Pro can be exported up to 4,800 pixels wide. Grab a free Google Earth Pro key today.

uses in television and film

If you’d like to use the Content on television or in a film (for example, a news broadcast or documentary), please first review the general guidelines at the top of this page, especially with regard to attribution.

If you'd like to use the Content in a substantial way on television or in film, you must accept the terms of our free broadcast license. Please send us your information—whether you’re a first-time applicant or looking to renew an agreement—and we'll send you an e-mail to confirm whether you qualify and provide next steps. The broadcast license agreement is only for television and film uses; it is not required for video projects exclusively distributed online (for example, YouTube).

If your project includes a minor scene in which one of our mapping tools is referenced—for example, if an actor uses Google Maps on her phone or an interview subject demonstrates how they used the Content in their research—you do not need a broadcast license. For these cases, no additional attribution is required on-screen; you may just film the product, or subject using the product, as long as you don’t alter the product interface in any way.

uses on the web or in application

If you’d like to use our Content in a web-based project or application, please first review the general guidelines at the top of this page, especially with regard to attribution.

Embeddable maps

We have multiple APIs available to help you build and embed custom maps, including Street View, within your website or application. When using these APIs, certain restrictions may apply. If you simply need to embed a classic Google map or Street View panorama on your website, learn how to easily do so here.

Google Earth images

We know the imagery in Google Earth, both current and historical, can provide useful visual context to news websites, blogs, and other educational sites. And often these sites want to use the imagery found in Google Earth as still images, both as-is or annotated with additional labels and features. You may use a handful of these images in a news article or on a blog, just please be sure to follow our attribution rules. Note that Google Earth Pro allows you to export high-resolution JPEGs—particularly handy for these projects.

Online video

If you’re using a Google Earth tour in your film and uploading it to YouTube, please do! If you’re just planning to distribute your video online, no explicit permission is required for your project. Same attribution rules apply.

uses in advertisements

Digital

If you’d like to use our Content in a digital advertisement, please first review the general guidelines at the top of this page, especially with regard to attribution.

Any use of Google Maps and Google Earth in digital advertisements must not significantly alter how the products and imagery would look online. Please see the "Personalizing your map" section for specifics.

Street View imagery can only be used in digital advertisements where (1) the imagery comes directly from the Google Maps APIs or (2) the imagery is embedded or linked to on your website using the HTML and URL provided on Google Maps.

Television commercials

If you’d like to use our Content in a television commercial, please fill out this form. Note that you may not use Street View imagery in television commercials.

Print

You may not use Google Maps, Google Earth, or Street View imagery in print advertisements.

using street view imagery

If you’d like to use Street View imagery in your project, please first review the general guidelines at the top of this page, especially with regard to attribution.

Street View imagery may be incorporated into your project if:

the imagery is embedded or linked on your website using the HTML and URL provided on Google Maps
the imagery comes directly from the Google Maps APIs, so please ensure that you abide by the Google Maps/Google Earth APIs Terms of Service.

These solutions ensure that if Google edits or removes imagery in response to user requests, these changes will be reflected in your project too.

If you have an academic and non-commercial request for Street View imagery that does not qualify under these guidelines, you may contact us at streetview-academic@google.com with the details of your project to request permission.

use of trademarks

Our trademarks are our valuable assets, and we want to make sure our users and partners use them correctly. These trademarks include the Google Earth word mark, Google Maps word mark, Google Earth logo, Google Maps logo, Google Maps red pin element, Street View word mark, Street View icon, Pegman word mark and the Pegman logo.

How to use

You may use our trademarks to accurately refer to our products or services, as long as such references are appropriate and consistent with our trademark guidelines. You may use only approved versions of our marks. Please follow all of the general trademark usage guidelines, the Google Maps/Google Earth APIs Terms of Service and the Street View Trusted badge usage guidelines. The trademark usage guidelines apply even to marks that were previously (but are no longer) used in connection with our products.

How not to use

You may not use, incorporate or combine any of our trademarks into a third-party brand name, product name, business name, trade name or slogan.

You may not use any of our marks in a way that suggests you are endorsed by or affiliated with Google or our Geo products. For example, you may not use our marks:

in domain names
as app icons or featured in an app
as the most prominent elements on your website
on physical merchandise, promotional materials, business cards or business stationery
in product reviews

Please do not modify or mimic our marks.

Thanks again for using Google Maps, Google Earth and Street View!