[meteorite-list] Google Maps

[Gerald Flaherty]

WOW! Sterling, no comparision. Terraserver wins by a mile!!!! Jerry
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Sterling K. Webb" <kelly at bhil.com>
To: <meteorite-list at meteoritecentral.com>
Sent: Thursday, April 07, 2005 11:50 AM
Subject: Re: [meteorite-list] Google Maps


> Hi,
>
>    Google maps is fun, but not terribly useful.  I spent a quarter hour
> trying to find Manacouagan crater, to duplicate Marc's view, with atlases 
> at
> my side to help me, but Google Maps refused to do it without my coughing 
> up
> its postal code.  Do craters have postal codes?
>    I tried Google maps on my own house. I got a map, but no satellite view
> -- unavailable says Google.  The locator pin icon for my house was in the
> right street but in the wrong block of the street.
>    I tried Google maps on my store, in another town. Again, I got a map, 
> but
> no satellite view.  Again, the locator pin icon for my store was in the 
> right
> street but the wrong block.  Obviously, Google is interpolating locations
> from what is probably a postal-type database, without even cross-checking
> adjacent block start numbers.
>    I reduced the zoom scale and got a satellite view covering 16 square
> miles, a great rolling sea of green Midwestern vegetation without a single
> visible road, city, or any other mark of man's presence  --  it might as 
> well
> have been photographed in the year 1800!
>    It's a pretty interface and makes a great rolling road map, but it's a
> long way from being The Great Eye of God for us to access!  It does do a
> fantastic job of finding the nearest pizza joint to any location, and 
> that's
> just what Google wants it to do.  That's what this is all about, you know.
>    In the area around my store, there were many pin locator icons 
> referenced
> to other local businesses which were also listed on the side by name and 
> with
> phone numbers.  My business was not among them.  Hey, Google, where do I 
> sign
> up?  (And how much will it cost me?)
>    TerraServer, on the other hand, is fantastic.  It managed to put my 
> house
> in the right block, even though at the wrong end of the block.  It showed 
> me
> a satellite view at highest resolution that showed a two block by two 
> block
> area in which I could see my house and count the windows, despite the 
> fuzzy
> grey low-contrast B&W aerial photo.
>    It did the same for my store.  I tried it for my brother's house in
> Louisville, Kentucky, and got a stunning color view with a resolution of
> about 2-3 pixels per foot!  You could identify cars by year and model, 
> count
> mailboxes, and I could see a soccer ball in one of the front yards! 
> Pretty
> impressive.
>    Here's Terraserver's view of the Meteor Crater in Arizona at medium
> resolution:
> <http://terraserver.homeadvisor.msn.com/image.aspx?S=14&T=1&lat=35.0281&lon=-111.0225>
>
>    Try zooming in, and you'll get excellent high-resolution close-up views
> right down into the crater. Count the rocks.
>
>
> Sterling K. Webb
> --------------------------------------
>
> Marc Fries wrote:
>
>> Howdy
>>
>>    Ok, this is pretty cool:
>>
>> http://maps.google.com/
>>
>>    Google has developed a seamless map database that cross-links to
>> satellite photos.  I scrolled this thing from Manacouagan crater to
>> Wetumpka crater, then out to Hawaii and "visited" my current home and
>> my mom's house on the way.  This is actually a pretty spectacular site
>> for locating physical landform features and cross-referencing them to a
>> road map.
>>    I can see my house from here!
>>
>> Enjoy,
>> MDF
>>
>> --
>> Marc Fries
>> Postdoctoral Research Associate
>> Carnegie Institution of Washington
>> Geophysical Laboratory
>> 5251 Broad Branch Rd. NW
>> Washington, DC 20015
>> PH:  202 478 7970
>> FAX: 202 478 8901
>> -----
>> I urge you to show your support to American servicemen and servicewomen
>> currently serving in harm's way by donating items they personally request
>> at:
>> http://www.anysoldier.com
>> (This is not an endorsement by the Geophysical Laboratory or the Carnegie
>> Institution.)
>> _____________________________
>
>
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