Google Earth product reviews

When I first heard about Google Earth my interest was raised and my curiosity got the better of me. So off I went and download the 11 odd meg download installed it and off I went to see the world, and see the world I did. You start off looking at a fully 3d rotatable representation of the earth, you can then zoom in to anywhere you so desire. Most places only have low res imagery (like most of NZ) but there are still quite a few where you can zoom in and count the number of cars in a car park, or see planes parked on a runway of a secret American base (Yes you can find Area 51 or as it's more officially known 'The Groom Lake Test Facility').

As well as just being able to see these wonderful images of the earth, you also have the ability to turn on layers which overylay other information on top of the current view, such as borders or roads, or the much more interesting 'Keyhole Community BBS' Layer or the 'User Supplied Collections' Layer. The User Supplied Community Layer is by far the most interesting one of the lot. I consists of literally thousands of placemarks that users from around the world have placed and made available to everyone else. Many of these placemarks are also linked into user forums where users share information about the item marked. Many placemarks are placed by people wanting to know what something they see on the screen is, and you can be sure that reading thought the forums you will find the answer. Other placemarks are actually a collection of placemarks of similar interest. For example I found a placemark which was linked into dozens of placemarks of Military submarines located by users from around the world.

One important thing to remember is that some of the imagery used in google earth is a number of years old so it may have changed since the photo was supplied.

So what can I say i'm hooked (and yes I have no life ) but one thing I recommend is have a broadband connection otherwise things will go very slowly for you.