Blog FeedGoogle Sightseeing
It’s not my usual thing to reserve a post for the sole purpose of pimping another website, but today is most definately an exception. For those who don’t keep up with the news surrounding the big G, Google not-so-recently announced Google Maps - a definitive street directly covering pretty much the entire US. Shortly following, and much cooler, was an addition which I think has been the best thing to hit the internet since Aelon.
That addition is a small link on every Google maps page which switches to “Satellite” mode. Rather than a graphical street directory, you are given an actual set of photos, linked together to give a comprehensive birds eye view of the US (and parts of Canada and Mexico) at a number of zoom levels. Try it out, it’s really fun. Using the two modes together, Taco was able to show me his house from above. I’ve also gone around trying to spot notable land marks for hours on end, there’s so much to see.
So much, infact, that an entire site has been devoted to pointing out satellite/aerial photos which are particularly fun or interesting to look at. Google Sightseeing is that site, and is the most recent addition to my favourites. Recent entries which took my fancy were of airfields housing stealth bombers, Niagra Falls, and the Hollywood sign.
Although the site is somewhat new, there is already enough content on there to get lost in, much like I do when browsing through the Wikipedia. I just hope the satellite view can soon grow to encompass more countries. I’d like to see my own house from above.
25th May | Reply
Google maps has sucked me in a time or two as well. Seeing my car parked outside my house was both cool and slightly eerie. What really gets me is zooming out on suburban neighborhoods. They just keep going and going it is kind of a strange realization. There are that many people on the planet and such.
25th May | Reply
How often is it updated? Is it literally at the moment pictures?
And I also hope they spread it to other countries. Hopefully the UK version will be out soon…
25th May | Reply
The UK does have Google Maps, but so far it’s only the street directory.
As for the maps themselves, I don’t think they would get updated very often, but I’m actually not sure. It’d be a huge effort to retake that many photos, I think they’d probably just plan to retake them every few years, when things on the ground change.
25th May | Reply
and where google goes, microsoft has to follow…
25th May | Reply
Interesting. That virtual earth seems so ambitious, I’d say it would be a very, very, very long time before it can offer those 45-degree views in any form of large-scale coverage. Especially if they plan to follow Google maps and go international.
25th May | Reply
That 45 Degree thingy reminds me of Sim City…
26th May | Reply
If only we could call down alien invasion and tornados at whim onto this “virtual earth”.
26th May | Reply
or godzilla…
26th May | Reply
I’ve used Google maps after Atari mentioned it on IRC once. Funny thing, the little red marker over my house is at the corner and not over the building itself.
22nd June | Reply
Just incase anyone is interested, Google Maps coverage has been increased quite substantially. I’m looking over Australia just now. The zoom levels for most places aren’t as good as what you’ll find for the US though. At least for now.
Actually, scratch that. I just found a very nicely zoomed image of my old house.
22nd June | Reply
Wow…that is actually very cool. I can see where I live (well…the town).
I hope they improve the zoom though.
26th June | Reply
Just to say that Google satellite maps now cover the UK, and there’s a similar site that covers this: www.googlesightseeing.co.uk