Google Earth Interface Tweak

Back in January of 2004, Google introduced Google Earth for Mac. As I’m sure many of you have experienced first hand, Google Earth is a program that is basically a virtual globe that allows you to zoom in and out of places all over the world. Since that update though, the interface hasn’t really changed much. If you have ever wished that Google Earth’s interface could get a bit of a boost, now is your chance.

Two years ago, Adam Betts re-designed a few elements of Google Earth’s interface. I just recently came across his blog post, and I thought I would share it with all of you.

The instructions to modify these interface elements are quite simple. First, you need to get the files from Adam’s site and unzip them. Second, find Google Earth in your Applications folder. Right-click on it, and select “Show Package Contents.” This will bring you into the core of files that make up Google Earth.

Once inside, open up the folder you downloaded from Adam’s site. This folder has two more folders inside of it, with pretty straightforward instructions. The contents of one folder needs to go inside of “Resources” and the contacts of the other folder needs to go inside “MacOS>res.” When you drag the contents of each folder into the location specified, you will get an alert asking whether to replace the files that are already there or not. Select the “Apply to All” box and click replace.

Upon opening Google Earth after you have added the new files, you will be greeted with a bit of a re-vamped interface. It isn’t anything major, as Adam said it wasn’t worth his effort to re-do the entire interface if he wasn’t getting paid. Maybe Google will finally take that as a cue to hire him and make the interface more Mac-like.

If you have been waiting for Google to tweak the Google Earth interface for a while now, this is about as good as it gets for now. This little tweak is free, and the files are available on Adam Betts’ blog.

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