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 webslinky: google earth, mars and beyond
This week, the sky’s not the limit. If I had a satellite I'd probably use it to rain laser fire upon my enemies. Luckily, Google use one for a nicer purpose – piecing together their snooty application, Google Earth. If you have broadband you really don't have any excuse not to download this programme (there’s even a version for those minimalist Mac users now). The application stitches together hundreds of satellite photographs to create a seamless globe for you to nose around from a birds-eye view. Find your house! Search for where you went on holiday! Look for Area 51! Erm...At this point you may be at a loss for what to do next. That's where the unofficial Google Earth Blog comes in. It’s updated with scary frequency, listing all the weird and wonderful things found by fans of the application. You can download patches that add markers to your version of Google Earth to help you find anything from world landmarks and the houses of the rich and famous, to rumoured secret military vehicles and meteor craters. The Google Earth Hacks Forum is another good place for interesting findings. If you’re unable to download the application, you could browse Google Satellite Maps. The unofficial site displays some of the sights of Google Earth on standard web pages, minus the thrill of spinning the globe around and zooming in for yourself. Google Mars was announced earlier this month. It’s currently just a flat map and not nearly as much fun as this brilliant Mars Add-on which was created by a user, but the all-singing all-dancing official add-on (made in conjunction with NASA) is planned for the near future. Slowly dominating the entire universe, there’s also Google Moon. It’s not exactly thrilling, but worth a look if only for the chance to zoom in as close as you can to discover what the moon’s really made of. Try it. And remember to have some crackers handy.
Jody Smith
 comments
Read members' comments related to this column.
comment by rowan
Jun 13, 2006
Oh hey, that's quite nice, thanks.
comment by Lee Rickler
Jun 12, 2006
You might be interested to know of a London specific Google maps and Google Earth site at http://digilondon.com...
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related info
 useful linkswww.gearthblog.com mars.google.com moon.google.com google satellite maps google earth hacks: forum mars add-on for google earth
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 webslinky #076movie cliches  webslinky #075wacky adventures  webslinky #074music mischief  webslinky #073 film sequels webslinky #072digital storytelling  webslinkyarchive books  books and comics archive Author interviews and reviews from 2002 to 2008. art  art archive Watch artist interviews and see images from British exhibitions. |
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