The people behind the HowStuffWorks web site and books have dissected Google Earth to explain its mysteries.
A lot of people turn to HowStuffWorks.com to figure out just why things do what they do. Now, the researchers behind the site have made Google Earth their topic.
HowStuffWorks introduces the visitor to Google Earth, and notes how the program lets people zip around a virtual representation of the planet:
and if you click on “Forbidden City” in the “Sightseeing” column, you can see what it would look like to fly Superman-style from 1600 Curtis St. in Denver to the Forbidden Palace in Beijing, China.
And you thought the world was small before.
The review goes on to discuss downloading Google Earth (still a beta product) and that the basic version is still free for users. After launching the product, users will see a lot of Google Earth is in 3-D, while aerial photographs represent other parts.
Those images come courtesy of Google’s purchase of digital mapping company Keyhole. Besides the free product, Google offers higher resolutions of Keyhole’s images and other features in two other tiers, both available for an annual fee.
To borrow a phrase from Microsoft, where do you want to go today? Google Earth can take people all over, but some places will be in more detail than others:
Google Earth has the United States, Canada and the United Kingdom covered to street level, meaning you can zoom in and view road names and local businesses and get directions from here to there. The database has a good amount of information on Western Europe, as well, but the rest of the world is hit or miss.
David Utter is a staff writer for murdok covering technology and business. Email him here.
