Hi Everyone,

I live close to lots of rural land with presumably lots of abandoned houses sprinkled about and I would love to try to start checking some out.

I have repeatedly seen Google Earth put forth as a great resource for finding potential locations. I have used Google Earth to ensure larger, more urban places that I am heading still exist (or at least did exist relatively recently) but I always have an address or general area that I already know when I do that.

So my question is, how do you all use Google Earth to find houses that are likely abandoned, without any previous intel on locations?

Just hoping for any tips that anyone has out there! Thanks everyone.

A lot of pot luck. Most of the things you spot that look abandoned probably won't be, but occasionally you'll find something incredible.

Just look out for the usual tell-tale signs from the air - no evidence of cars using a track/driveway to get to it, piles of trash/rubbish outside, overgrown gardens/drives, obviously abandoned cars, etc etc. Look for dead end tracks that go into patches of woodland as well.

If the roof hasn't caved it can be hard to tell. Quite honestly while trawling Google maps has served me well in dense industrial urban areas, I've always found that just getting out and driving around has served me better when looking for rural farmhouses.

Posted by Aran If the roof hasn't caved it can be hard to tell. Quite honestly while trawling Google maps has served me well in dense industrial urban areas, I've always found that just getting out and driving around has served me better when looking for rural farmhouses.

Yes that's a good point, especially if the maps are a few years old - I've worked out some of the imagery of the UK on the online Google Maps rather than Google Earth is 14 years old! They use the best quality image on Google Maps rather than necessarily the latest one which is put on Google Earth.

Posted by mookster A lot of pot luck. Most of the things you spot that look abandoned probably won't be, but occasionally you'll find something incredible. Just look out for the usual tell-tale signs from the air - no evidence of cars using a track/driveway to get to it, piles of trash/rubbish outside, overgrown gardens/drives, obviously abandoned cars, etc etc. Look for dead end tracks that go into patches of woodland as well.

Thanks mookster, would not have thought of the dead end tracks into woods myself!

look for the crop circles

Posted by Aran If the roof hasn't caved it can be hard to tell. Quite honestly while trawling Google maps has served me well in dense industrial urban areas, I've always found that just getting out and driving around has served me better when looking for rural farmhouses.

Thanks Aran, I actually love driving through the country around my house and yes, your idea definitely makes sense and is very feasible. Thanks for the input! I’m already thinking of a couple that might have been hiding in plain sight now that I’m thinking about it...