Google Earth

[Box13]

Anybody else use google earth to see what part of the country thier swapped items are going to or comming from?I find it quite interesting sometimes.Although from my side I find google earth(and google in general)way overly intrusive...Robin

[Wheeler]

I have. I'll use it sometimes to make sure it's going to a residence.

[timkelley]

I like to look but it keeps falling off my computer for some reason. Maybe it's because I won't use their tool bar.

[woody1]

I have. In fact I just looked up one of our memebers last week. Let me tell you though, the statement they make, "Placement on map is approximate.", is certainly correct. May be an understatement. When I look up me using my address I'm taken to the location of the mailbox of the previous owner. I guess mebe you can see my place from there! Heck, the zip code isn't even correct! It is a neat tool though and kinda fun to see what other parts of the world look like. Regards, Woody

[Charlie Two Tracks]

I just looked up the area I was in , in Viet-Nam. It was pretty neat. Nothing much is left but I thought I recognized a building. Quite a tool. Imagine what the government has.

[cbrick]

Google Earth is all stock photos, nothing current. A few years ago I looked up my house, it showed an old nearly falling down shed, the old roofing on the house and didn't show the new shop dating the picture a minimum of 5 years at that time, could have been much older.

Rick

[ElDorado]

I remember looking up the old Hensley & Gibbs address in San Diego. It's just a house but the workshop was still there.

[MtGun44]

Depending on the news, they often update stuff that is "current". My home was showing
a 4-5 yr old picture, or more. They recently updated to something within the last year or
so.

I like looking at places I will be going for vacation or business, including around the world.
Pretty neat.

Bill

[462]

I’ve used Google Earth and Mapquest to view, visit and re-visit places of interest. For example: the lake where we vacation, Montana property we used to own, houses I lived in and schools that I attended, future vacation destinations, air bases where I was stationed, including the one in Viet Nam. I think the sites have a certain educational and nostalgic value.

[fatelk]

It can be a bit unnerving. I had never used the "street view" until recently; typed in my address, went to street view, and there's my truck sitting in the driveway! You can almost see in the windows of the house.

The photo must be a couple years old, though, because the vehicle in front of the neighbor's house was one that hasn't been there for a while.

[firefly1957]

When I put in My address it placed me 6 tenths of a mile north of were I am the information at the bottom of the page said the Photo was from 5/31/2005. I could not get a good close up either . Those street view pictures are often put in by real-estate sales man when I put my other house on the market one showed up of it.

[Boz330]

I looked up a couple of the islands the old man served on in war 2, pretty neat. One of them he said the airstrip went all the way across the island. You can still see the runways, although the jungle is trying to take over.

Bob

[bearcove]

Google Earth is all stock photos, nothing current. A few years ago I looked up my house, it showed an old nearly falling down shed, the old roofing on the house and didn't show the new shop dating the picture a minimum of 5 years at that time, could have been much older.

Rick

Two week ago I walked out the front door and this goofy looking car drove by. Had a 8' pole sticking out the roof with a 18" round ball stuck on top. the ball had windows around the circumference and I could see camera lenses.

Whole car was covered with google Earth logos!

[cbrick]

Two week ago I walked out the front door and this goofy looking car drove by. Had a 8' pole sticking out the roof with a 18" round ball stuck on top. the ball had windows around the circumference and I could see camera lenses.

Whole car was covered with google Earth logos!

Well, dunno what that was but that would sure be a tough way to cover no small thing such as . . . Planet Earth.

I would also think it a very difficult method of getting the shots starting at about 3,000 feet and zooming in.

The shots you see on Google Earth to the very best of my knowledge are all satelite photos.

Rick

[shooter93]

Some of it is realllllllllll old. I've been here for 20 yrs and all it shows is the field I built in.

[fatelk]

The shots you see on Google Earth to the very best of my knowledge are all satelite photos.

Google earth has a fairly new thing called street view. Street View is only available on main roads and streets in populated areas, and is photographed by the vehicle Bearcove describes.

Most of the photos are satellite, but you zoom in close enough and you can go to street view and get a totally different photo. It's wierd because you can use your mouse and drive right down any road they've done and see houses, people, other cars, etc.. I did it just the other day and "drove" down some roads where I grew up. The technology really is amazing. I wonder about the billions of gigabytes of memory needed to store a 360 degree photo every hundred feet or less over millions of miles of roads.

[MtGun44]

I have used the street view to locate someplace I had to go downtown so I could avoid
getting lost and find the place quickly.

Bill

[firefly1957]

The 5/31/2005 picture of my house was from a airplane it said who it was taken by on bottom of frame.

[45nut]

you can go to your county GIS site , attached to the assessors page usually and get a aerial view here within 2 years. Much more current than GE but restricted you your own county tax lots.

[higgins]

I have used a County GIS (Geographic Information Service) map of a county we are considering moving to. Not only does it show reasonably current photography, but the one we've looked at has overlays for property lines (the basemap), floodplains, and elevation contours. It's the handiest thing I've every seen for screening property. Find something in the realtor listings that looks interesting, then search the address on the GIS map. It's a great way to find out a lot about a piece of property without having to visit it. The one I've used also will zoom much closer than GE. It's good enough that the county can not only look at property tract boundaries, but see if you've build a shed in the back yard or added to the house without a permit.