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Google Maps Now Cover Whole World
GregBryant writes "They haven't blogged it yet, but maps.google.com has added some additional scaling-out, and maps of the entire world are available. Only country names so far (except in the US, Canada & UK) but it's still nice to finally click back & forth between the Satellite imagery and some real maps, even if their proportions don't quite match."
Getting satellite views of physiographic features from a readily available source is truly one of the best things to come from the internet. The only downside to the Google satellite images is that the highest resolution images cover metropolitian areas. This is great for folks who use it for urban planning, environmental impact assessments, historic studies, etc., it doesn't do much for geologists or geographers. Still, it is free.....
As a geologist it is nice to have aerial tools on line, especially when some of the other taxpayer funded sources of data have been taken offline by private companies. While I don't object to paying for data produced by private companies, I get a bit steamed with the idea that I have to pay *twice* for government-generated data. I understand the necessity to save the taxpayers money, but in the case of topographic, DEM, and DLG sources generated by the government, we have already paid for most of the cost of production; hosting is a fraction of cost for agencies such as the USGS.
Even if hosting were a significant cost, paid advertising could cover the cost and provide a good income for any company interested in providing the service for the government. The fees that some of these charge for taxpayer-subsidized data is rediculous.
Thanks again to Google.
"Rocky Rococo, at your cervix!"
If I zoom in to a certain magnification, the labels of Belgium and the Netherlands are switched.. if I zoom further in, it's correct.. I do wonder what plans google has with their expansion to europe..
You could always do this in Civ as soon as you build Apollo world wonder....
"All great things are simple & expressed in a single word: freedom, justice, honor, duty, mercy, hope." --Churchill
Getting all the country names and rough maps is a good first step for WORLD DOMINATION!
air and light and time and space
On a side note, am I the only one who notices that dragging the zoom bar's handle has a smooth (fatbits or whatever one calls it) zooming effect* now?
Firefox users need not apply; I see it on IE only so far, so I'm guessing it uses script and their zoom "Microsoft extension to Cascading Style Sheets (CSS)." (rough translation: it's a non-standardized property)
You can hold down the "B" button for continuous firing.
Just great! Now who's going to clean up this mess?
If "disco" means "I learn" in Latin, does "discothèque" mean "I learn technology"?
They have satellite imagery of a very large piece of Denmark too: Clicky, clicky, looks just like the real thing to me. :-)
Money for nothing, pix for free
I find http://www.map24.com/ to be superior to google maps. Even for the areas which google maps do have map data.
Chicks sunbathing on roofs... just imagine...
I wonder what bit of US government paranoia caused this:9 6&spn=0.008122,0.008690&t=k&hl=en
9 4&spn=0.008122,0.008690&t=k&hl=en
http://maps.google.com/maps?ll=38.889145,-77.0087
but not this:
http://maps.google.com/maps?ll=38.897502,-77.0365
After heavy pressure from Israeli lobbyists, the US Congress enacted "shutter control" specifically for Israel in 1997. Satellites using US technology aren't permitted to image Israel with a resolution of greater than 2 meters per pixel. That's why the images of Israel are so lousy.
I used maps.google.com during a recent home-buying experience, and it was very useful. It's easier to see the different residential and industrial areas for neighborhoods one is not familiar with. It's also pretty easy to spot apartment complexes, parks, golf courses, and how close a home is to a highway.
One can also compare lot sizes to get an idea of residential density, the number of homes with pools (I live in Phoenix, so pools are very common). Being able to switch easily between maps and images makes it easy to determine what that big parking lot is a part of, such as a mall or a mental health facility. Fortunately, the images for Phoenix appear to be less than a year or two old.
Some people may prefer to live next to a mental health facility, some may prefer the mall. All this info makes it easier to informed decisions about whether or not you want to live someplace before making the decision so schedule a home visit. Granted, it didn't always work out, I remember driving up to one place and telling the realtor to keep driving.
I rarely read replies, it's my opinion and if you thought about your opinion a little more, I'm OK with that.