Jo, Google Earth is wonderful. My wife has been wanting to see British Columbia for years. I just handed her the Laptop and told her to take her time and see it all. It sure is cheaper than buying gas and renting motel rooms.

Larry

I could see my dad's sheep in our orchard on last years images. They were out in the middle of 80 acres of 60-yr trees in an April pic so you could see them there since the trees were still bare.

Twenty years ago I would never have believed I would be able to pick out individual sheep from a picture taken from space. Amazing.

Here is something even more amazing: I spent some time in Russia 8 years ago and it was a really good experience. On Google Earth I can actually zero in on the specific restaurants, hotels, and even park benches where we people-watched in a small city in central Russia where we spent the most time. I could find a specific park bench in the middle of Russia from Google Earth! Is that scary or what!

Yeah, I can visit my home town in Germany... or visit where my sis, and my brother lives...

It is pretty awesome.

But I think, I like skype even more... as we can see each others (my siblings and I) when we visit.

No matter if they are in Germany, or Australia, we see each other!!! That is just AWESOME.

Larry, you are to funny, telling her to see it all... and take her time.

Moni

if you think thats crazy try Bings "birds eye" view. Basically they fly planes around and take photos.
go to bing maps and then click the birds eye view option when you find your location. Not all places will have it though.

Mike

The 'street view' is what freaks me out. Everywhere they have it essentially means that someone was standing there with a camera taking a picture of everyone's houses from the road. They haven't done my street yet, but there is one about a block away. Freaky.

Those Bing Birs Eye views are interesting. When panning around my site, I get shots from different years. We had a pond built, and I have before and after shots from several angles. Weird and cool and creepy at the same time.

Earthy - I've noticed the same thing on Bing's birds eye views; another thing was that I tried to print an birds eye of my house before it was renovated, and the printed pic was after renovation, not at all what was on the screen. Interesting, it is.

Larry, you crack me up. I just love your posts. :)

Google Bird's eye view is interesting but ANCIENT (at least for my neighborhood). 6 years behind the times, or more. This shot had to be taken before I moved here. No road on the North side, property cut in half with a rusty wire fence, and no garden.

Jo

I meant Bing Bird's Eye view, not Google. GAH!

Jo

Sorry, but I am a school teacher, and I think it is a violation to my right of privacy. My students have told me about where I live, what I drive, and many details about my privacy that is none of their business. I have been hoping that the courts will make this illegal. If a group of kids can use this and find out all about your home, what can the thieves do? Guess where the kids put their information --- on Facebook, of course.

By the way they don't walk, they are in little cars, and they update their information regularly, and very quickly. The walkers pretend to survey your property, but they are really getting as much information as they can from the ground, then from the air. They walk through the backs of the houses, and drive the fronts.

Sorry to be odd man out, but now I can anticipate about 160 kids running through my garden at Halloween.

Sammy

I did not mean to be so negative. Last year when my kids came in, and started talking about exactly where I live, what I drive, and what my garden looks like, it threw me a little.

On the positive side, we found where we lived in Nashville, and where I grew up in Indiana. It is fun, sort of, just like Facebook. But when it turns, there are few legal recourses.

I have enjoyed looking at the apartment where my daughter lives in Washingto, DC and where my other daughter lives in San Diego.THey are so far away that instead of a snap shot, you see how their homes relate to the rest of the area, you feel like you are a little more informed.

Sammy

Sammy,

I can see it being a big problem for public figures and people with privacy issues. When I grew up, our town was so small that we knew where all of the teachers lived despite the lack of Google Earth, and most of them got their trees toilet-papered on Halloween :).

I really enjoy feeling like I am flying over the world and looking down. Some of the other sites bother me more. With many of the web sites, people can look up your maiden name, email address, how much you spent on your house, your age, etc etc. Those sites freak me out.

Jo

The fact that we can get pictures of different times may mean we have been "POSING" longer than we realize.