Cache for Google Earth

To best see the Flyover photos of the Campus and the Bread Loaf Campus in Google Earth, we suggest that you change the memory cache settings in the Google Earth client application. Before adjusting these settings, make sure your computer meets the requirements listed above.

1. Open the Google Earth application.
2. Click the Tools menu in Google Earth.
3. Under the Tools menu, click Options.
4. Click the Cache tab in the Google Earth Options dialog.
5. Set the Memory Cache Size to at least one half of your total RAM or system memory. See the sections above to determine your total RAM. For example, if your total RAM is equivalent to the required value of 512 MB, enter 256 MB in the Memory Cache Size field.
6. Set the Disk Cache Size to at least 1024 MB. See the sections above to determine how much Hard Disk space you have available.
7. Click the Clear memory cache button.
8. Click the Clear disk cache buttn.
9. Click Apply Settings.
10. Click OK

Storing Google Earth imagery for later use on a computer without an Internet hookup
Did you know that it is possible to run Google Earth while disconnected from the Internet? A live
Internet connection is required only to retrieve images from the Google Earth servers into the
computer’s memory. If the area of the globe you are interested in covers one small portion of the
imagery dataset, you can store, or “cache” a limited amount of this imagery for future use. If you
plan to take your laptop out into the field to a location with limited Internet hookup, you can take
your imagery files with you and use them wherever you go. This document explains how.
First, in Google Earth, under Tools>Options, select the “Cache” tab and set the maximum memory
cache size to around 500MB (unless your computer only has less than that, in which case you may
need to make this smaller).
Then, find the current disk cache data. The files you are interested in are called dbCache.dat and
dbCache.dat.index. These files are created on your local hard drive each time Google Earth is
started, and they contain a “working memory” of the imagery most recently viewed. This normally
helps with re-draw rates by making the imagery easily accessible for the computer’s short-term
use. The cache files are constantly being re-written, but at any point in time contain the
imagery most recently viewed.
To find dbCache.dat and dbCache.dat.index, look in the directory that corresponds to your operating
system as specified below:

When you view a location in Google Earth, it caches the imagery data (but not the elevation data), storing it locally so that as you scroll back and forth across different areas, it doesn’t have to download the same imagery over and over again from the server on the Internet. There are actually two sets of locally cached data:

Memory Cache: Data stored in system RAM. This information can be retrieved very quickly, but vanishes when you exit the application.

Disk Cache: Data stored on the hard drive, and which persists after program exit. So if you have data cached for a particular area in Google Earth, exit the program, and then return to the same area the next time you use Google Earth, GE will load the imagery information directly from the hard drive cache – a lot faster than having to download it again over the Internet.

The size of these caches can be set in the Tools => Options section, under the Cache tab:

Google Earth saves downloaded image data to speed up loading times, which can be a problem if your hard drive has little free storage space available. Further, screen flickering, missing characters, texture anomalies and various other display issues can show up if the Google Earth cache contains outdated content. You can try to resolve these issues by deleting the Google Earth cache files from the Google Earth application itself or via a manual search through File Explorer.