I should have mentioned that high-speed internet access is really a must to use this. I can't imagine using it over dialup. It's a even a little slow over my 384kb dsl line, though pretty good over 1.5mb dsl.

I've got high speed and have also found images with such low resolution that you can't make out much of anything. Most of these are somewhat rural areas...ie South Hero, VT, Stonington, CT, Windermere, England. There are a few somewhat rural areas it doesn't seem to recognize...Southboro (or borough) or Hopkinton MA for instance--it has no idea where to go, although Ashland, MA, no bigger than the others, was no problem.

I can look at our marina in Gulfport, FL and even make out our boat, but the image is the old configuration of the marina before the docks were reworked, and placement completely changed, which means the picture is at least 4 years old. Our current house, built for the 2003 Parade of Homes not only doesn't show, but there are no houses showing on this street at all. Still a terrific program--I had so much fun being back in Paris yesterday--finding Ste Chapelle, brought a big smile and I noted it was even sunny...made me want to run right over! I've never felt the vastness of the Tulieries just walking through it but was amazed at the sight from "the air".

You need Windows XP, a fast computer, and a very fast internet hookup, but if you have all that, it's truly a Fodorite's heaven. You can "fly" over all the places you've been, revisit them as if actually walking those maps you took with you -- trace your steps from the Pantheon to Piazza Navona and across to the Vatican.

If you don't have a fast enough computer or modem, try to find a friend who does, just to get a taste of this.

It's not the computer or the connection that makes the pictures blurry. I have a windows XP computer, less than 1 year old with cable modem. If I look at Paris, things are great. But someone out there try looking at Ann Arbor, MI. I can't make out anything beyond green blurs and the river. Haven't tried looking at the football stadium yet, and I can't use it from this computer. I'll play more when I get home, but I really wish it wasn't blurry in my town.

I just found myself and I'm two years younger. I love Google Earth!

mm

Here's another site with arial photos. This one does not require a download.

http://terraserver.microsoft.com

Gee thanks Curmudgeon. You got some of us all excited only to find out you need the latest software, hardware, and high speed internet access. What a let down. Now I feel bad!

For those of us without all the latest bells and whistles check out terraserver.microsoft.com. It has black and white photos where you can see your house and neighborhood without all the latest software, hardware, and high speed internet.

The images that make up google's image database are a mosaic of low res satelite images that cover the entire globe - even Antartica, for example, and high res patches in many urban areas, but a suprising number of random areas as well. (Edinburgh, for example, is low res, but the area immediately west is high res). So if everything looks blurry in the place you are, just zoom out. Eventually it won't be blurry - but it will be a photo from much higher up, so you won't be able to make out as much. Look in the bottom right hand corner of the tool to see the altitude that you are looking at the earth from. Sometimes you can see cool things even in the low res photos - Mt. Washington, for example, looks cool even in low res.

But I gather Google is adding more and more high res places as they acquire images and get them online and such. So you're town may eventually be high res too!

Take a look at www.googlesightseeing.com for more info about google's satellite photos. If e

Oh, and also check out maps.google.com and click the satellite button. It gives you the same pictures through a website, rather than a nifty interface.

jlm_mi, you need the XP and fast connection to keep things from freezing up or taking so long to download that zooming is really impossible. You're right, has nothing to do with the image's resolution but does have something to do with whether a user can get to the level with the best resolution.

If you haven't tried Niagara Falls yet, it's the clearest one I've tried so far.

Venice and Paris are so cool!! Love this site!!

Is there a way to find places like the Grand Canyon through the search engine. When I type in Grand Canyon it sends me to someplace in Missouri. I found the Grand Canyon by zooming in on the area where it is, but is there an easier way?

The photo mapping is old- at least more than three full years in my section (IL) because they show the house next door with no pool and several houses missing that are now built.

It was online but not under Google last winter because I was fooling with it then.

Makes me stop and think about how much change there has already been, and so quickly!

On Terraserver I can see my dad digging the field. On the other half of the farm which the photo must have been taken when the satellite passed around again he is in a completely different part of the field doing the same thing. Two dads in the same field. I figured the the salellite must have taken about two hours to make another pass.

Awesome! By the way, you also need a large screen monitor for best pic. Mine is a 17 inch and cuts off a bit of the right side, but you can just mouse over to that area.

We looked at a military base in NJ - it showed in clear detail every plane on the ground. Hmmmm...don't like that. The weird thing was that there were no visible markings on the planes, even though they were clearly featured. Censored?

Thanks curmudgeon!

Onboard Sausiltio ferry and waving ... can you see me? Hi .... hi up there ... hi ... whoops, almost bumped into the lady with the big hat ... do you see her ... isn't she the coolest! Have a great day all, and ciao, L