Brand Resource Center | Products and Services (original) (raw)
Google Maps, Google Earth, and Street View
If you want to use one of these products in your work, review these guidelines to see if your specific use is allowed and whether you need to submit a request for approval.
- Intro
- General guidelines General
- Copyright fair use
- Personalizing your map
- Use of trademarks
- Google Maps Maps
- Web and apps
- Television and film
- Online video
- Google Earth Earth
- Web and apps
- Television, film, and online video
- Street View Street View
- Web and apps
- Television, film, and online video
- Required attribution Attribution
General guidelines
You generally don’t need to submit a request to use our mapping products for the purposes covered in these guidelines. As long as you’re following our Terms of Service and these guidelines, as well as attributing properly, feel free to move forward with your project. But do continue to read these guidelines thoroughly to make sure your use is permitted. If your use isn’t allowed, we’re not able to grant exceptions, so please don’t submit a request.
For commercial uses where our mapping products are used for revenue-generating purposes, such as integrating Google Maps or Street View into a mobile or web app, use Google Maps Platform instead.
Copyright fair use
Your use of our content may be acceptable under principles of fair use (or other similar concepts in other countries). 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. Google can’t tell you if your use of this content would be fair use. You may wish to obtain your own legal advice.
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 Styling Wizard and a cloud-based styling tool that allow 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 export an image from Google Earth or Earth Studio, or capture a screenshot from Google Maps, to add custom labels or graphics using third-party software.
While we encourage annotations, you must not significantly alter how Google Maps, Google Earth, Earth Studio, or Street View would look online. For example, you’re not allowed to make any changes to the colors of the product interface or remove attribution.
For Google Earth and Earth Studio content, you’re not allowed to significantly alter our imagery without providing clear context that it’s a simulation, projection, or fictional content.
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, the Pegman logo, Local Guides icon, and the Plus Codes logo.
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 only use approved versions of our marks, and you must follow all of the general trademark usage guidelines, the Google Maps Platform 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.
Refer to our brand elements guidelines for more information about using our icons, logos, and names.
Google Maps
You may print Google Maps content for non-commercial or personal use (for example, a map with directions). In all uses where you’ll distribute printed materials that include the content, first be sure to read the general guidelines above, especially with regard to fair use and attribution.
Even if your use isn’t covered by fair use or some other doctrine, you can still use our content without submitting a request as long as you follow these guidelines. Note that we’re not able to grant exceptions to these rules.
Go for it
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Inside of books, including textbooks (up to 5k copies)
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Periodicals (Newspapers, magazines, journals, etc.)
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Business documents such as company reports, proposals, presentations, etc.
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Supplemental navigational use in printed promotional materials, such as business cards, pamphlets, handouts, flyers, etc. (up to 5k copies)
Example: A local dentist’s office using a small map at the bottom of a mail ad to show where it’s located
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Print links to a Google Maps location, such as with short links or QR codes
don’t do this
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Inside of books (more than 5k copies), or as cover art for a book
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Used as the core part of printed navigational material (for example, tour books or guide books).
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Consumer & retail goods or packaging (t-shirts, beach towels, shower curtains, mugs, posters, stationery, etc.)
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Primary or creative use in printed promotional or advertising materials:
Example: A full-page magazine ad for a car company using a Google Maps screenshot to show how far the car can travel
Web and apps
If you simply need to embed a Google map on your website, you don’t need our permission. You’re also welcome to link to Google Maps with text or a button on your website, such as “View on Google Maps” or “Open with Google Maps.”
If you need more integrated uses of our products for commercial use, we have multiple APIs available through Google Maps Platform to help you build and embed custom maps for your website or mobile app. When using these APIs, certain restrictions may apply.
If you’d like to use our content in a digital advertisement, please first review the general guidelines, especially with regard to attribution. Any use of Google Maps in digital advertisements must not significantly alter how the products and imagery would look online. See Personalizing your map for specifics.
Television and film
If you’re using Google Maps for film or television (including streaming services) – for example, if an actor uses Google Maps on a phone, or an interview subject demonstrates how they used Google Maps in their research – you should submit your project for approval according to the guidelines on the Entertainment and Media page.
Online video
If you’re using Google Maps content in an online video (e.g. YouTube) primarily for educational, instructional, recreational, or entertainment purposes, you don’t need to request permission – but you must still follow our general guidelines and attribute properly.
If you’re using Google Maps in an online video advertisement or for promotional purposes (e.g. a real estate company showing where rental properties are available), submit your project for approval according to the guidelines on the Entertainment and Media page. Only standard Google Maps imagery may be used for this purpose, since Satellite View imagery falls under the same commercial restrictions as Google Earth.
Google Earth
Google Earth or Earth Studio can be used for purposes such as research, education, film and nonprofit use without needing permission.
You may print Google Earth content for non-commercial or personal use, with some restrictions as noted below. In all uses where you’ll distribute printed materials that include the content, first be sure to read the general guidelines above, especially with regard to fair use and attribution.
As long as you follow these guidelines, you don’t need to submit a request. Note that we’re not able to grant exceptions to these rules.
Go for it
done
Inside of books, including textbooks (up to 5k copies)
done
Periodicals (Newspapers, magazines, journals, etc.)
done
Business documents such as company reports, proposals, presentations, etc.
don’t do this
close
Inside of books (more than 5k copies), or as cover art for a book
close
Used as the core part of printed navigational material (for example, tour books or guide books).
close
Consumer & retail goods or packaging (t-shirts, beach towels, shower curtains, mugs, posters, stationery, etc.)
close
Used in printed advertisements or promotional materials of any kind (flyers, pamphlets, magazines ads, etc.)
Web and apps
Google Earth may not be embedded online or in apps. However, you’re welcome to export and use a handful of static images, with proper attribution, for non-commercial purposes such as news, blogs, educational, recreational, or instructional use.
don’t do this
You may not use Google Earth imagery on the web for any commercial or promotional purposes, such as, but not limited to:
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Real estate listings or company profiles
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Construction site locations
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Website header or social media banner images
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Digital advertisements
don’t do this
You may not use output, or use third party tools to capture output, from Google Earth, Google Earth Pro, or Earth Studio to reconstruct 3D models or create similar content, or to create other content, products, or services that may violate our Terms of Service.
Television, film, and online video
You may use Google Earth and Earth Studio content for news broadcasts, television shows, films, documentaries, music videos, and any educational purposes. You don’t need to submit a request, but you must follow all guidelines on this page and in related resources, especially with regard to on-screen attribution. Google Earth content can never be used without attribution.
Before using Google Earth or Earth Studio, review our License Terms and Terms of Service. We also ask that you register your usage here – we love seeing creative uses of Google Earth and appreciate the insights you share.
This license to use Google Earth and Earth Studio content applies to all types of film regardless of platform (and technology) distributed on, but doesn’t extend to content distributed from or to these territories.
Don’t do this
You may not use Google Earth or Earth Studio content (or Google Maps satellite view imagery) for promotional films, advertisements or commercials. This includes anything used specifically to sell or promote a product, business, or organization. For example, this includes uses such as, but not limited to:
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A real estate company showing where their properties are located in a company video
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A documentary-style film being used to promote a business or organization
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A sports team using Google Earth images of their stadium in a TV commercial
If you’re using Google Earth content in an online video (e.g. YouTube) primarily for educational, instructional, recreational, or entertainment purposes, you don’t need to request permission, even if your work is monetized. But you must still follow our general guidelines and attribute properly.
Street View
Don’t do this
Street View imagery may not be used for any print purposes. This includes:
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Books, guidebooks, and textbooks
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Magazines, newspapers, and journals
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Advertisements or promotional materials of any kind
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Consumer or retail goods (posters, t-shirts, mugs, etc.)
Additional restrictions
While we’re excited to see many uses of Street View, there are some use cases that are prohibited, including but not limited to:
don’t do this
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Creating data from Street View images, such as digitizing or tracing information from the imagery
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Using applications to analyze and extract information from the Street View imagery
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Downloading Street View images to use separately from Google services (such as an offline copy)
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Merging or stitching together multiple Street View images into a larger image
These restrictions apply to all academic, nonprofit, and commercial projects.
Required attribution
All uses of Google Maps, Google Earth, and Street View content must provide attribution to Google and, if applicable, to our data providers.
We do not approve of any use of content without proper attribution, in any circumstances, and we require attribution while the content is shown. Requests for exceptions will not be answered or granted.
Where do I find the attribution?
You can find the attribution in the line(s) shown on the bottom of the content in our mapping products along with copyright notices, such as “Map data ©2019 Google”. Note that the exact text of the attribution changes based on geography and content type.
done Use provided tools
Attribution information will appear automatically on certain types of imagery when using Google-provided tools, such as web embeds, APIs, or exports from Google Earth Pro or Earth Studio. Please use these methods whenever possible.
close Don’t modify the attribution
Don’t remove, obscure, or crop out the attribution information. Note that Google logos cannot be used in-line (for example, “These maps from [Google logo].”)
done Keep the attribution close
If using screenshots of our imagery outside of direct embeds, include the standard attribution as it appears in the image. If necessary, you may customize the style and placement of the attribution text, as long as the text is within close proximity of the content and legible to the average viewer or reader.
close Don’t separate the attribution
You may not move the attribution away from the content, such as to the end of your book, the credits of your film or show, or the footer of your website.
done Include third-party data providers
Some of the data and images on our mapping products come from providers other than Google. If using such imagery, the text of your attribution must say the name “Google” and the relevant data provider(s), such as “Map data: Google, Maxar Technologies”.
close Don’t give us all the credit
When there are third-party data providers cited with the imagery, only including “Google” or the Google logo is not proper attribution.