Fascinating Addictive Google Site
 

Has anybody else downloaded that www.google.earth.com?? You type in your address, your favorite city and get a fab satellite picture that you can zoom into buildings. I just zoomed into the Dome in Florence, amazing. I have been looking at Rome, Florence & Venice all morning! Best for big cities. Have fun!

Haven't tried it, but I think it's earth.google.com (not google.earth).

Looks interesting.

It's a joy. I've been looking for all the houses I've ever lived in.

Yes my daughter and I have looked at the Eiffel Tower in Paris and the Pantheon in Rome as well as searched for the Great Wall of China. And of course, we have scoped out our neighborhood. It is really fun.

sorry of COURSE! earth.google.com! My sister just informed me I was an idiot! Im looking at our building in Manhattan!

Anxiously waiting for them to have the software usable for us Mac users...I did see it on someone else's computer, and it is almost as addictive as this one!
Paule

Annie - Thanks for the info. I looked at the site for just a few minutes. A lot of fun and I'm afraid it could be addictive.

Not only addictive, but darned useful. I'm going on a canal cruise in September, and I was able to zoom in on the tiny town in France where we pick up the boat. Then, using the panning feature, I was able to follow our entire route from above. The region has not been mapped in a very detailed format as yet, so I cannot pick out individual locks, docks, or other details on the canals and rivers, but I am certainly able to make out other interesting features that I intend to explore on the ground.

Yes! Looked up our house and my sister's in FL. Want to look up hotels and other places in Italy and Poland. It's way cool.
Louise

My husband used it to locate a hockey rink when the rink directions were obviously wrong. He just looked for a building with a really big roof (its a 5-plex) in the general area. Problem solved.

Cool!

However, when I typed in actual addresses, each time it did not give the exact address. It was a few houses away. So maybe it's not an exact science yet.

But it's certainly seems like it could be a very helpful travel resource for trip planning.

Check out the Forbidden City under sightseeing! Amazing, makes me want to go to China next.

Most of what I wanted to look at was very fuzzed over--anxious to see what it looks like when those places are fully intergrated into the system.

Anbother site that doesn;t support MAC yet! It's driving me nuts - I really wanted to look for my building!

My name is Gavin and I am addicted to Google Earth.

My favorite "use" for this site is "flying" across continents and seeing how the land changes. Just set a good elevation, 40,000 feet is often good, and use the mouse to set a course. It's an easy way to see the world.

Zooming in on cities that have high resolution images is good fun too. You can tell where all the rich people in Bazilia live by all the swimming pools in the back yards.

I too am getting addicted! I like to go to Paris and find the streets where I roamed around back in May...

Thank you for this, AnnieP! made my evening!

-e

Annie-its incredible and very addictive!

Google earh IS addictive.
Try this one as well: www.flashearth.com
It uses images from Google maps and MSN virtual earth, and it's all Flash-based, so I find it runs a lot smoother. The interface is a little more intuitive too.

Another site which may be helpful is:

<b>http://maps.a9.com/</b>. ((F))

A nice adjunct to Google Earth is:

http://www.googleearthhacks.com/forums/index.php?

People post interesting finds. Click on the links and GE launches and flies you there.

Also interesting, you can import images and with a little fiddling overlay them on GE. Particularly compelling during hurricanes using satellite imagery.

Just wondering if there is an eventual charge for this google earth and also is it a terribly long download initially? Am interested but always hate to get beyond my depth in downloading. Any and all advise would be appreciated. If it is just a simple download, I AM COMING. Thanks much. halfpint

It's currently free but yes, rather a longish download if you don't have broadband or cable -- and once you've downloaded it, it still takes a while to boot, will eat up your memory so don't be running too many other things at the same time or they'll all freeze. But yes, it's definitely worth it -- be sure to play with the rotation and zoom functions.

I think the business model is to keep it free to users and make money by charging to have your business appear on the images when users are checking out an area. This will make it a very usefull travel tool.

it downloaded very fast for me. i don't think they will be a charge as it is easy to see the commercial applications...it's the future of web searches for businesses and companies will pay a lot to be shown on GE.

Thanks for the info so far and in trying to get to the google earth, sounded like you have to join google GROUPS of which there are only 268 members (just didn't sound right) so think I am not in the right spot. Could I get more info on what to look for as I do want to download it as am on cable so should not be too long a download. thanks much. halfpint

Here is halfpint again, just thought I would let all know I got it downloaded just fine in less than 5 minutes by using earth.google.com, instead of the other way around. Perhaps different strokes for different folks. Anyway, WOW and thanks much, looks like it is going to be soooooo much fun. Have a good labor day all. Halfpint

I knew from the title that this was going to be about this fascinating site. The detail in most places is awesome. By tilting the perspective you can even use it to get an idea of the hills and valleys around locations. Too bad the hotels and churches are not yet identified for Europe. It was really helpful in USA for finding stops along our route.
If this quality and detail is available on a free site I can hardly imagine what the spies have access to. They can probably read this Email from space!! (tilting my screen down a bit now HA!)

Halfpint, Im sorry. It was my idiotic mistake that typed in the site incorrectly. It IS www.earth.google.com and not the other way around. Sorry for making you waste all that time. By the way, has anybody been able to find the Great Wall of China. Nobody (workmates) here can.

I've heard that it is pretty darned dangerous for our folks in Iraq.