Google Earth
Wow. Talk about cool. I played with this until I was dizzy.What is it?
It's a program you download from Google here. Install it and be amazed.
The idea is simple. It’s a globe that sits inside your PC. You point and zoom to anyplace on the planet that you want to explore. Satellite images and local facts zoom into view. Tap into Google search to show local points of interest and facts. Zoom to a specific address to check out an apartment or hotel. View driving directions and even fly along your route.
You can mark all kinds of references, and fly between points. It gives you satelite imagery, altitude, etc. The satelite images appear to be a couple of years old, but it is still amazing. I can even see my car parked outside where I used to work, and my car parked in the driveway at home.
I marked many of the places I've traveled, and then played a "flight" between all of them. You can save overlays of specific types of landmarks, too, and toggle them on and off. Another cool thing to do is change your perspective, so you can look at an angle on the horizon.
New York City, and some other major metropolitan areas also have 3D renderings of buildings, so you can look down between tall skyscrapers, and see the shape of the skyline. This can be toggled on or off. There's a group of people that must sit and play with this thing all day -- they've got a message board and share facts/opinions about various spots on the globe. You can toggle their markers on and off and add your own as well.
Useful? You bet. Want to find out how to get from one place to another? Just type in two addresses, mark "from" and "to," and the program shows you driving directions from a bird's eye view. Way cool. Become an armchair traveller today! You'll need a fairly new Windoze based computer and broadband internet to take advantage of this free goodie.
posted by Lori @ 2:18 AM
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