How to Show the Equator in Google Earth, and What to Do in Google Maps

Checked 3 November 2026 in Earth on the web, Earth Pro 7.3.7 and Google Maps on a computer (Chrome, signed out), and in Chrome and the Google Maps app on an Android 13 phone.

Which Google map can show the equator?

Turn on gridlines in Google Earth on the web

1. Open Google Earth on the web at earth.google.com/web in a browser.
2. Click the small map thumbnail at the bottom left to open Basemap settings. You can also use View → Basemap settings (Ctrl+B in Chrome on Linux).
3. Scroll to More visuals and turn on Gridlines (“Show latitude/longitude lines”). The switch is off by default.
4. Zoom out to see the whole globe.

The View menu also has Show gridlines, which turns the lines on or off directly; it showed the shortcut Ctrl+G in Chrome on Linux. In our test, gridlines stayed on after reloading the page.

With gridlines on, Earth labels six lines: the Equator, the Tropic of Cancer, the Tropic of Capricorn, the Arctic Circle, the Antarctic Circle and the Prime Meridian. On the web, the equator is drawn as a thick yellow line.

The ordinary latitude and longitude lines get closer together as you zoom in. On the whole globe they were 10° apart; at about 15 km up, the closest we checked, they were 30 seconds of arc apart, labelled like 0°00’30”N. Once you can see the lines, our guide to finding latitude and longitude in Google Earth shows how to read a place’s exact figures.

One thing can look like a glitch: the word “Equator” sits on top of the 0° label, so it can be hard to read. Look for the thick yellow line instead.

Show the grid in Google Earth Pro

In Google Earth Pro on a computer, choose View → Grid. The shortcut is shown next to Grid in the View menu: Ctrl+L in our Linux test of version 7.3.7, and ⌘+L on Mac according to Google’s Earth Pro instructions.

Earth Pro draws the same special lines in bold yellow, with the Antarctic Circle appearing only when you zoom far out. Its ordinary grid is wider on the whole globe, about 20° apart, and tightens as you zoom in. To change how the grid is labelled, open Tools → Options → 3D View and choose a format under Show Lat/Long, such as decimal degrees or degrees, minutes, seconds.

Earth Pro now shows a notice that it “will no longer be available for download beginning June 25, 2027.” Earth Pro can still be downloaded for now, but Google Earth on the web is the longer-term choice. Our Earth web, Pro and mobile comparison explains the other differences.

On a phone

On an Android phone, Earth on the web doesn’t open by default. When we went to earth.google.com/web in Chrome on Android 13, it showed a page asking us to download the Google Earth app from the Play Store instead.

You can still get gridlines in the phone browser:

1. In Chrome, open the ⋮ menu and turn on Desktop site.
2. Go to earth.google.com/web and choose Explore Earth if your projects page opens first.
3. Tap View → Show gridlines. The menus are small on a phone screen, so tap carefully.

From the starting globe view we could see the yellow equator, both tropics, the Prime Meridian and the Antarctic Circle. Turn Desktop site off again afterwards if you prefer the phone layout.

The Google Maps app on the same phone had no grid either. Its Layers sheet offered map types (Default, Satellite, Terrain) and map details such as Public transport, Traffic, Bicycling, Street View, Wildfires and Air Quality, but no latitude lines. We didn’t test the Google Earth app itself.

What about Google Maps?

Google Maps on a computer does not draw the equator. (Our test browser couldn’t open Globe view, so we checked the flat map.) Its Layers menu offered Terrain, Traffic, Transit and Biking, and the More panel offered map details, tools and map types, but no grid or latitude lines.

What you can do is go to a point on the equator. Type coordinates with a latitude of 0 into the search box, such as 0, 36.8. Maps drops a pin at 0°00’00.0”N 36°48’00.0”E, in Kenya. That marks one point, not the line. Our Google Maps coordinates guide covers entering coordinates in the right order. Equator monuments show up as places, not as a line: near Quito you will see labels such as “Mitad del Mundo”, but no equator line runs past them.

If you need a line on a map you can share, My Maps lets you draw lines by clicking points. My Maps has no grid to snap to, so a hand-drawn equator will be rough and may drift off 0°. It’s fine as a sketch over a small area; for an accurate labelled line, use Google Earth. Not sure which tool fits your project? See Google Maps vs My Maps vs Earth.