Google Earth

Raised as a usability problem by 36 people on Hacker News over 18 years (2009–2026), in 21 threads.

People raised many different problems with Google Earth, but no single problem has yet been raised by 3 people in 3 different months and threads.

Unreviewed issues were grouped by machine: Claude Haiku labelled each comment as a usability complaint, named what it's about and summed up the problem in a line, and a small model grouped similar problems. Nobody has checked them by hand. Expect mistakes.

The newest 39 complaints

Web version of Google Earth is glitchy and a poor experience compared to the desktop app2026-08-29
Account switcher blocks mouse input to the map; right-click doesn't work2025-08-06
Google Earth is practically unusable in Firefox2023-12-06
Can't copy names or phone numbers, and screen readers and translators can't read it2023-10-28
Can't figure out how to get a shareable URL2023-02-23
Inconsistent UI across platforms makes the app confusing to use2022-07-28
Forces MM/DD/YYYY date format despite Japanese locale, no format error, wrong result shown2021-04-16
First-time users have to figure out the controls before using it2021-04-15
Can't find how to reopen the timeline after closing it; misclicks on prominent button2021-04-15
Can't find any way to make it work with Quest headset on Mac2021-04-15
Search must be used in timelapse panel, not main search box, which is unintuitive2021-04-15
Viewing historical imagery takes 4-5 clicks and is very hard to use2021-04-15
On ultrawide screens the view shows too much area, so the city can't be found2020-07-31
Default half-second-per-year playback is too fast, and no option to slow it down2020-07-31
Map runs like a slideshow and is unusable on a powerful machine2020-02-27
Outline view rows are too short, cutting off the bottom half of text2019-01-16
Hamburger menu only appears after opening the places or location sidebar, so it's hard to find2018-12-14
Can't tell that sidebar triangles and chevrons open the side menu, or that Globe is a toggle2018-12-14
Clicking a sidebar item opens another sidebar, and a toggle looks like a normal button2018-12-14
No volume control, so the user cannot adjust loudness2018-11-12
Green dots hard to see; History view can't change the year, so user gets stuck2018-11-12
Scrolling moves the station selection away from the one the user wants to keep2018-11-12
Unclear what the +/- buttons do; they sometimes move the globe, sometimes zoom2018-11-11
Map pans cause it to switch to nearest station before the user can choose2018-11-11
Panoramas are confusing to find, requiring many obscure steps2017-06-21
Shows only a loading screen on Chromium Linux with no error message2017-04-18
Map moves too fast when dragged, so the point under the cursor doesn't stay put2017-02-03
Globe view is laggy and glitchy, and rotation is constrained so poles can't be viewed head-on2015-05-30
An errant click or touch clears the search results, so the user has to recover them2014-10-19
A single click or short drag clears search results; can't find the permalink button after redesign2014-10-19
Basic functionality is buried in hidden menus, hard to find and remember2014-10-19
Map view is laggy and slow to load and zoom in all browsers2014-10-19
Basic functionality is buried under hidden menus and corners2014-10-19
Search input is ignored until the page fully loads, taking 3-4 seconds2014-10-19
Zooming accidentally rotates the map until the user loses their orientation2012-10-14
Has to install a browser plugin just to view it2011-08-13
Users get lost navigating, and Street View is slow and blurry2010-11-29
Scroll zoom may not follow the mouse pointer, making it unusable2010-11-29
Labels show or hide based on unclear factors, so named places can't be found reliably2009-03-20