Google Earth
Google Earth lets you "fly from space to your neighbourhood." By using satellite images, maps, and Google Search, you can view areas in 3D–or so I’m told. An application download is required, but when I tried to download the app today, I received the following message from Google:
Google Earth downloads temporarily delayed
Thanks for your interest in Google Earth, but we’re sorry we can’t offer you a download right now. As you know, Google Earth is in beta, and we’re still building out our ability to take on new users. We’re making good progress, and expect to be able to accept new downloads shortly, so we recommend you check back daily at earth.google.com. We hope to be able to welcome you and other new planet surfers soon.
We appreciate your patience,
The Google Earth Team
Oh well.
July 6th, 2005 at 6:43 am
It is neat, though the clarity and coverage varies greatly. My husband could show me his high school and its individual buildings in Perth, Western Australia, but we could only vaguely work out where my high school (complete with football field) should be in the grainy, low res of western NY. Parts of Sydney were also not real detailed, but Pittsburgh was pretty detailed (we could see cars in my library’s parking lot). I thought the 3D thing was kind of silly, but the hubby seemed to like it.
July 29th, 2005 at 6:25 am
The downloads were up and down for a week or two, but they’ve been available consistently for a few straight weeks now (and presumably for the near future, as well).
Mickey
July 29th, 2005 at 8:14 am
Yes, everything has seemed to be up consistently for some time now.