How Can I Display Google Imagery in ArcMap?
Google does not allow you to use its map files outside of its products. This means that, by default, Google imagery cannot be displayed in ArcMap. There is no tool, no extension and no method to integrate the Google API in geographic information systems. However, you can take high-resolution screenshots of the maps and import them in ArcMap, respecting the scale.
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Instructions
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Open Google Earth, go to the Layers panel and disable all options. Go to "Tools," select "Options" and pick "Decimal Degrees" in the "Show Lat/Long" drop-down list.
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Use the cursor and zoom feature to navigate to the area you want to import in ArcMap, then press "R" on the keyboard to reset the view angle to "Top Down." This also rotates the map to "North Up."
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Press "F11" on your keyboard to see the map in full-screen mode. Click the small button labeled "Add placemark." This creates an icon in the middle of the map. Move it to the top left corner of the map and rename it to "Top-left." Write down the latitude and longitude coordinates of the icon.
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Create three more icons for the remaining three corners and name them "Top-right," "Bottom-left" and "Bottom-right." Write down all of their coordinates.
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Go to the "File" menu and select "Save." Enter a name for your new image and select a location where to save it. Click the "Save Image" button to save the image. Close Google Earth.
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Open ArcMap, go to the "View" menu, then select the "Data Frame Properties" menu and the "Coordinate System" tab. Click on "Predefined," select "Geographic Coordinate Systems," go to "World" and click on "WGS 1984."
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Go to the "Customize" menu, select "Toolbars" and click "Georeferencing." Go to the "File" menu and use the "Add Data" button to select and add the image you saved from Google Earth. Click "OK" when asked if you want to build pyramids.
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Zoom into the top left corner of your map and click the "Add control points" button in the "Georeferencing" toolbar. Use the cursor to left-click once exactly in the center of the icon you added in Google Earth. Right-click once and select "Input X and Y" from the resulting menu. Add the longitude, or "X," and latitude, or "Y," coordinates you saved from Google Earth.
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Add control points for the remaining three points. Right-click the layer that contains your map in the "Layers" toolbar and select "Zoom to layer" to display the map properly.
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Go to the "Georeferencing" menu and click on "Update georeferencing" to finish. The Google imagery is now properly displayed and at scale.
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References
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