Years in the Google Earth desktop app (Google Earth Pro) add up: your My Places panel probably holds thousands of placemarks, paths, and parcel outlines inside one local file. Moving to Google Earth on the web introduces a paradigm shift: you're moving from a single, locally stored hierarchy into a modern project system. Think of it like Google Docs: most of the time, you wouldn't keep 15 years of writing in one file. You'd break your work into focused projects to keep it organized, shareable, and manageable.
If you try to upload your entire My Places archive all at once, your web map project might feel cluttered and hard to navigate, and import limits might prevent the import altogether. We recommend moving your active work one top-level folder at a time. Your projects stay fast and organized, and each client or site gets its own sharing settings in Google Drive. Check your folder size first and follow the steps below to avoid failed uploads on your first try.
Watch how to move My Places to the web one folder at a time.
Step 1: Check your folder size to pick the right import option
Google Earth on the web gives you three ways to work with your files, each with different strengths. Each editable Map Features import tops out at 10,000 features, so start by checking how large your file is, then use these recommendations:
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More than 10,000 features, or a large Shapefile, GeoJSON, or CSV: import as a data layer. Data Layers are optimized for performance, so you can visualize large datasets with attributes. Open the data table to filter and style features by their attributes. Data Layers are read-only.
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Up to 10,000 features that you need to edit and share with a team: import as map features. Every point, line, and polygon stays editable, your custom icons and folder hierarchies carry over, and your changes save automatically to your Google Drive project. Because every feature is editable, Map Features work best for smaller, active working files.
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Files you prefer to keep on your computer: open as a local KML file. The rebuilt Local KML editor opens KML and KMZ files straight from your hard drive, with expanded feature limits. Your changes don't auto-save to Google Drive, so save the updated file with Save As when you finish.
Step 2: Move your active work one top-level folder at a time
Rather than exporting your entire My Places tree as one massive KMZ file, bring over the folders you actively use today.
1. Pick one active top-level folder in the desktop app
Open the desktop app and look at the top-level folders inside My Places. You've probably organized them by client, corridor, or job type over the years, which makes them natural project boundaries.
2. Save that folder as its own file
Right-click one active top-level folder, select Save Place As..., and save it as a standalone KMZ or KML file on your computer. Leave older, dormant archives in the desktop app until you need them.
3. Import the folder into a new web project
Sign in at earth.google.com, click New Project, and import that file as Map Features or as a Data Layer. Each top-level folder becomes one focused project in Google Drive, so the project you share with an outside client and the internal map you keep private have separate viewer and editor permissions.
Right-clicking a top-level folder in My Places, selecting Save Place As, and importing into a new web project.
4. Clean up imported items by dragging a selection box on the map
Once your folder is on the map, hold Shift and drag a box around the items you want to select. Restyle a group of features in one pass, move a batch of pins into a new folder, or delete old duplicates without clicking them one by one.
When a file won't import
Some older or heavily customized KML and KMZ files may not import cleanly. If a file fails, send it to our team at goo.gle/earth-import-issue. Only you and our support and engineering teams can see your report, and attached files are automatically deleted after 60 days. Each file you send helps us find and fix the import problems desktop users run into most.
Step 3: Pin your always-on folders as Reference Projects
Most longtime desktop users have a few folders in My Places that stay checked on permanently, such as county lines, township grids, or utility territories, so they show up underneath every new site review.
In Google Earth on the web, the best way to handle those always-on layers is to set them as reference projects. Import each dataset once as its own project, then add it as a Reference Project in your basemap settings. With Reference Projects, you can see multiple projects on the globe at once, giving you easy access to your most-used datasets in read-only mode, without having to import them into every new project. This keeps your active workspace clean, while the canonical data you rely on stays visible in the background.
Pinning a Reference Project in basemap settings so baseline boundaries stay visible beneath an active project.
By using the right import method and leveraging Reference Projects, you can build a powerful, organized workspace that scales with your needs. For full details on supported file formats (including KML, KMZ, CSV with automatic coordinate and address detection, GeoJSON, and zipped Shapefiles) and storage limits, check our import documentation or watch our video walkthrough.
Put your imported folder to work with Classify and Ask Google Earth
Once your project boundaries are on the web, pair them with two tools that take on repetitive map work and give you access to powerful new insights:
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Search imagery with Ask Google Earth: Describe what you're looking for in plain language to find infrastructure assets in Street View, search overhead imagery, or pull in relevant data layers across your imported site.
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Map land cover across your project area with classify: Name the land class types you care about, such as water, forest, pavement, or bare ground, drop a few example points for each, and Google Earth builds a custom layer across your project area in seconds.
Delegating an imagery search to Ask Google Earth and mapping land cover with Classify.
Importing Map Features, working with Local KML files, and pinning Reference Projects are free on the Standard plan. Data Layers are part of our Professional plans, and analysis tools like Classify are available at varying levels across our Standard, Professional, and Professional Advanced plans. All new Google Cloud Platform customers are also eligible to sign up for $300 USD in credits over 90 days to try these features.
Export one active top-level folder from My Places today, import it into a new project at earth.google.com, and share the Google Drive link with a teammate so you can review the site together.
Stay connected
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We want to hear from you: Use the in-app feedback tool in Google Earth on the web (Help > Send feedback) and include the hashtag #EarthPro anywhere in your message so our team knows you're a desktop user and can route your input directly.
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File won't import? Send it to our team privately at goo.gle/earth-import-issue. Only you and our support and engineering teams can see your report, and attached files are automatically deleted after 60 days.
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Track what ships: Check our Release Notes and subscribe to the Google Earth YouTube channel.
