I Have a New Love

I have always loved maps. When I was a kid I have an Air Force aeronautical chart hanging on the wall of my bedroom. It was like 5-6 feet tall and 3-4 feet wide. It covered the central US from the Canadian border to the Mexican border.

I college I didn't have that much wall space, but I still had a rather large world map on the wall.

So sites like MapQuest and Google Maps are lots of fun for me to play around with. And I do play around with them a lot. So I was surprised yesterday when I came across Google Earth. This is a little application that you can download to interact with the online Google maps and satellite imagery. AND IT ROCKS!!!!

Here's a screenshot:

As you can see, it will take the satellite image and stretch it over a terrain. Not as impressive in Fort Worth, but check out Hollywood.

Anyway, you can store favorite locations and even preset the view to a particular angle for each view. Then when you jump from one location to another, you actually get an animation like you launched from one location and landed at another. It's very cool!

Some of the cities also have 3D building objects so you can see the actual skyline. PLus at the click of a button you can see schools, hotels and all sorts of additional information. Even crime stats and census information!