The Earth and Moon at Google

by Dan Butler

My family and I have been having a lot of fun playing with Google's new Google Earth software. I'll tell you where to download the software in a moment. But think before you do - it really can become an all consuming focus.

What is Google Earth? When you start the software you are greeted with a view of our earth from space. You can spin this globe around and find an area to explore. Then you start zooming in. Depending on where you are looking you can overlay road names, topographical information, and even 3-D buildings. Not only can you zoom in, you can tilt the view to see some perspective. So how close can you zoom? I can see my car in the driveway of my house.

A more specialized map, Google Moon, has annotations on all the moon landings over the years. You can zoom in and examine the surface of the moon. The extreme close-up zooms have surprising detail.

So I tried the downloadable version of Google Earth. WOW. That's all I can really say. You can actually see my car in the picture. Or scan around inside the Grand Canyon. Or view major landmarks around the world. There are a few places just to fuzzy to view. But on the whole it is fascinating. One of my sons has been checking out all the NASCAR tracks. My daughters have been looking up relatives houses. Always something interesting to find.

The images are not the most current. For instance it does not show the recent Wal-Mart or Albertson's supermarket built in our town the last couple of years. But it is still stunning to see the amount of detail available at your fingertips. Google says the images have been taken over the past three years.

Try the online version of Google Maps here:

http://maps.google.com/

Find Google Moon here:

http://moon.google.com/

For the downloadable Google Earth go here:

http://kh.google.com/download/earth/index.html

Be sure to read the system requirements before proceeding. I have a fairly high end computer - Pentium 4 2.4 ghz with 785,904 megabytes of RAM and a 64 megabyte Video Card with very fast DSL service. And it still takes some time render the pictures. But it is worth it. Play with the online version first and if it interests you try the install version. I think you'll be glad you did. Note: at the time I'm writing this you can only download a Windows version of the software. No Macintosh for now.

Click here to read the followup article on how to enhance your Google Earth experience.

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© 2005 Dan Butler

Dan Butler is the Editor-in-Chief of TNPCNewsletter.com and the author of the amazing new book that shows you how to save your identity, get your email read, and put more time into the things you really enjoy...

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