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Google Earth Rocks!
I have been showing Google Earth to everyone since I first installed it in June. I've always been fascinated by maps, but everyone I've shown it to is absolutely enthusiastically amazed too. Even if you have seen satellite images in one of the Internet map sites, you will not be prepared for this. Note that you will want to have a nice graphics card and fast Internet connection for the best results. It is a desktop application with a quick simple install. As you explore the globe, it seamlessly loads Google's data for the viewed locations via the Internet.
The first incredible thing you notice is the smooth fluid movement of the planet under your mouse. Click and drag on the earth's surface, and even release while in motion to keep floating. Type in a location and it will zoom out and arc gracefully to fly across the planet and zoom in on your destination.
The second incredible thing is mind-blowing. Once you go down reasonably close to your destination, you can tilt your view so you are looking across the surface of the earth rather than straight down. The significance of this may take a second to sink in... And they have the macro topography (elevations) of the landscape so that mountains in 3D motion are spectacular. The landscape subtly adds to the recognition and familiarity of known locations too.
There are numerous other features that are familiar from other online browser mapping services such as shops, roads, and directions. But they are given new freshness by the 3D aspect such as when it animates the trip from point A to point B, it actually faces the direction you are traveling. There is also an option to show 3D block shapes which approximate the actual buildings in major cities.
I have toured the planet quite a bit. Many places do not offer the resolution that major western cities and various random swaths of countryside provide, but where the best resolution is available you can see individual cars well enough to recognize known vehicles in your neighborhood (the satellite images are about 3 years old). The planet surface has an odd patchy look because of the different coloration of satellite images from different sources of varying resolution.
I generally use Google Earth to look up locations in my travels or that are in the news. When Hurricane Katrina struck New Orleans I spent time looking around and matching locations with those in pictures from the News on the web.
Google has already posted new satellite image overlays of the devastated Mississippi coastline and they have a Community area on their site for sharing overlays. Overlays are satellite images retrieved from various sources that have been imported into Google Earth and fitted to the correct location; you can toggle the overlay on and off to see the difference between before and after. I also noticed this week that CNN was using Google Earth in some of their TV graphics around New Orleans, patchy appearance and all (with the name Google Earth prominently displayed).
Google bought Keyhole, the company that implemented this engine for the U.S. military. It is so amazing to have this technology in everyone's hands. Even my mother installed it for herself. Microsoft came out soon afterwards with a beta product called MSN Virtual Earth which only sounds like it is a competitor; Virtual Earth is just another mapping service with satellite imagery on the level of Google Maps (though no doubt Virtual Earth has some great features, it is not a full blown 3D application).
It is exciting to think of where this technology is going in the next 5 or 10 years. There may be services which keep satellite images up to date, say within days (depending on cloud cover), and with more comprehensive and higher resolution detail around the globe. One of the things that bothers users is that building images are flat on the ground. There may be advances in the 3D rendering and image synchronization of buildings but that seems like a very difficult technical challenge.
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