Cool!

Like many people, I've been playing around with Google maps and Keyhole (satellite images).

Here is a satellite image of washington square and the neighborhood I live in.

I think this is really cool.  I honestly don't know what business purpose this technology can service, but for sheer fascination, it's hard to beat this one.

Comments

[Scott]

You're not kidding! This is amazingly cool. I see some serious time wastage in my future.

[Claiborne Booker]

Mr Wilson --

You may also be aware that MapQuest has offered a similar service for some time now. By the way, when I lived in Manhattan, that part of Fifth Avenue was one of my favorite locations - I used to go to the Salmagundi Club for exhibitions every now and then. I now live in Santa Fe, a place that rivals New York, at least on the art scene.

[Shannon Clark]

A few people have already been commenting on the value the images provide in answering questions about things not found on typical online maps, bike trails for example.

From a business purpose, I think where this is heading is even better linkage visually of local businesses and other search results.

I am currently shopping for a condo in Chicago, I'm finding myself searching for the locations in Google maps to visualize for myself where the location is relative to important items suchas here in Chicago the El tracks. If Google were to make it trivially easy to set a base location then search for lots of local items near it (restaurants, cafes, grocery stores, train stations, etc) I would do those searches every time I consider a listing...

and in Google's business traffic = revenue.

Shannon

[Michael A. Davis]

Free Satellite images have been available for a long time with the same accuracy as keyhole. Check out http://terraserver.microsoft.com and MS offers a lot closer views.

What would someone do with these images?

I use TerraServer all the time in my Real Estate Investing. I can see what a property looks like, what the neighboorhood is like, etc all without leaving my office.

Thanks,
Mike

[Christy]

I've found these to be useful when I'm trying to plan a long one-way hike or x-country ski outing that will cover more than one park. The connector trails often don't make the park maps, but they can be relatively easy to spot on these. I would be willing to pay for the service through a general-purpose hiking/mountain biking website.

[Bill A]

Google Maps is by far the coolest mapping tool around. Being able to drag the map within the window to see adjacent areas (rather than waiting for the page to refresh) really helps with context. When you get directions, you can click on the description of a turn and see a pop-up baloon with a close-up of the intersection or on-ramp. And it's integrated with Google Local search, so you can find restaurants, theaters, services and hotels in the area (maybe this is what Shannon wants). No more MapQuest or Yahoo Maps for me.

I agree that Keyhole is cool (some city areas have incredibly fine resolution), but the coolness alone isn't worth the subscription fee. I'd probably subscribe short-term if I were house hunting.

[Shannon Clark]

Bill,

The integration with Google Local is what I want, but it is currently somewhat less than intuative, and not completely precise. Specifically it is not always clear (may not be possible) how to fix the zoom level and focus when first searching for one location then adding features (say "nearest starbucks")

And while a search for a category or business (cafes, starbucks etc) is fairly obvious and does generally work, it is less clear how to do broader searches or more complex tasks

- would be great to be able to overlay public transportation onto the grid - i.e. see bus stops, trains, El stops etc

- currently I have to basically "guess" whether or not a search would work (is it "free wifi" "wifi" or "internet access")

Shannon