*how do you make the buildings pop up in 3D?

*why is it the resolution is crummy? do I have a setting wrong?
(probably.)

3D Buildings is a layer, tick it in the bottom left hand corner

resolution sucks in most places outside the US, where is the resolution sucky?

- turn on 3d view for buildings:
Layers > 3d buildings (all should see a check mark)

To see the 3d buildings in their full glory zoom in and rotate.

- poor image quality:
preferences > change settings in "3d view" & cache

Remember that in some places there is not enough resolution to zoom in. If you are not sure if you are receiving the imagery, zoom into some place where you don't see well, and look at the status bar. In the middle says Streaming |||||.|| 100% (or some percentage). If it's not 100%, it's fetching resources and you must wait. Otherwise, there is no more zoom available for that location.

About the buildings, in the sidebar (ctrl+alt+B) go to the Layers section, and then check 3D Buildings, under Primary Database. Then, wait for the layer to load. If you are not sure if it's working, fly to the Googleplex, New York or other popular place that has 3D buildings for sure.

Also see "help" > check for updates as there was just an update. Be sure you have the latest version. Also, the latest version has updated imagery that includes new Hi-Res.

beussery:
All Google Earth versions have the same imagery, which is stored online, on Google's servers.

Ionut Alex. Chitu

While you are correct, the latest version of Google Earth includes a new set of features and content for "Sky" including new images and sound therein not available in previous versions. At the same time these new features were released in "Sky" I noticed an update in imagery in both Earth and Maps. It is that update I was pointing out. Sorry for not being more clear.

My observation in the imagery update is based on the following:

Prior to Jan 9, 2008 the imagery showed my old car parked in my parking space. Since Jan 9, 2008 the imagery in Earth and Maps has shown my new car which was purchased in May 2007.

http://google-latlong.blogspot.com/2008/01/next-generation-of-google-sky.html

However, if you use an older version you may experience problems logging in (I had that problem time ago), but if it were the case, you couldn't even see the earth because you won't log in...

Thanks for the tips, let me try.

well, that's interesting. so not all places CAN show in 3D. I tried NYC..and it popped up. I tried 1600 Amphitheatre Parkway, and it didn't. nice clear photo..but no 3D.