Google Earth

[gusl]

If you're a geography freak like me, I recommend you *AVOID* Google Earth. I find it highly addictive, and have already spent countless hours traveling through glaciers & ice shelves, deserts, mountain ranges and obscure yet significant places (e.g. Kerguelen Island (49S, 69E))... and marking every place I've ever visited.

They should have a picture competition. In the journalistic category, I've made snapshots of:
* the US-Mexico border at Tijuana and Tecale
* Banda Aceh
* a hydro plant in Africa that my father used to work on
* the place where the rail goes underground in the Eurotunnel
* forest fires(?) in Angola and Siberia

Comments

[selfishgene.livejournal.com]

I found the Africa coverage to be disappointing. There was very little detail for any of the places I was interested in.

[gustavolacerda.livejournal.com]

I found a really big, nice circle near Sun City... there's also places called Nooitgedacht, Weltevreden and Swartwitpensbokfontein (with a corresponding ~berg)!

Strangely, I can't find Sun City itself.

[selfishgene.livejournal.com]

I think Sun City is inside the caldera of an extinct volcano. That may help you locate it.

[brkvw.livejournal.com]

I've been using it in interviews to learn where people live, or come from.
I use it every day for one thing or another, from www.HIKEtheGEEK.com to simply planning whereI'm going next.

I have had Keyhole since it first was introduced several years ago.

[mathemajician.livejournal.com]

There is also moon.google.com and I was talking to a Google guy who does this stuff at the IJCAI conference and he said that there will be universe.google.com sometime too.