Google Earth

[Andy]

This is a lot of fun. There are areas of real detail, like London. I looked up Wimbledon where the tennis is being played, really impressive stuff.

http://earth.google.com

[slimtim]

I had a play on this today at a mates house...unreal!

When spent a good few hours finding places like the Nazca lines, Area 51 (we think!), the aircraft graveyard in arizona (you can even identify each aircraft and see the shadows they cast on the ground), The hostels my mate stayed in when he went travelling, mount everest (in 3D too), The Rock (the prison, not the bad actor) and heards of cattle in africa!

If you have broadband, have a play...its strangely addictive!

[roycruse]

Very good piece of software - makes you realise just how much of the world you haven't seen - even those that have done a lot of travelling will only have seen a tiny % of the planet.

If you want to be truly humbled though as to how small we really are check out http://celestia.sourceforge.net/ its a free piece of software much like Google Earth but for the entire galaxy and beyond !!!

[codprawn]

Yes I love this sort of stuff - sadly most of the areas I am interested in just don't have enough detail.

Another great site is http://www.spaceimaging.com/gallery/default.htm

The detail on the New Orleans shots is amazing!!!

[limeydal]

Be a great piece of software to map all your favorite launch ramps.
You can explore all around it and see what's to see and where to go.Just need to get it on my laptop on WIFi and I have another Nav tool
Heres my favorite ramp to explore just for fun.
If you set to these co-ordinates you can see the large parking lot with the 10 ramps at the top right.
Seaworld is to the west (look for the blue exhibit pools ) and then Mission bay all around it.
You are right , this is a fun tool

32' 45' 47.74 N
117' 13' 05.29 N seen at alt 950 ft

cheers dal

[The Jackeens]

Magic !


Us

[codprawn]

Looks good - why is the water that strange colour??? Is it because it is really shallow or does it actually dry out???

Bit hard to find with 2 N elevations though!!!

Contrast it to the place I will be boating - not enough detail on Google Earth sadly but look at this

http://www.multimap.com/map/photo.cg...multimap.y=230

Long link but it does work!!!

[codprawn]

That's the harbour bang in the middle - zoom in - looks even worse!!! Harbour doesn't dry out anymore as there is a sill but the whole area is a nightmare - only temp though!!! 2.5hrs acces either side of high water......

[limeydal]

oops, sorry yes 2nd co-ordinate should be West.
Very small tidal range here,maybe 4 feet with 8-10 ft spring tides.
The area by the ramps is within Mission Bay , which was a tidal river swamp until it was dredged out to make one of the largest man made water recreation parks in the country. So probably 6-10 feet with 15-20 mid chanel. But I see what you mean by the wierd color Its the same on the N.E. end also and yet the water never goes out .Must be a photographic hiccup or in the processing software.
Each of the "bays"you can see within the park is allocated a differant use;so keeps the sailors/PWC /windsurfers/Kitesurfers/ apart.
The larger stretch of water with the two small islands in the middle is where we had the "Thunderboat "races the other week.(Fiesta Bay ) In fact its on TV today on the Outdoor Life Network.Dont think you get that on Sky!
Also to the north you can see De Anza Cove where i got the photos of the Osprey last week.
Its fun checking out SeaWorld to the West and you can even see Shamu in the semi-circular pool attached to the large rectangular pool .
32' 45' 53.35N
117'13'42.03W at 350ft (hey got it right this time)

This Google program is addictive!!

cheers Dal

[codprawn]

Good idea having differenjt zones for different users - they have a much simpler solution in the UK - just BAN them all......