This is no doubt old news to many of you, but for the rest,
Go to…
http://earth.google.com/downloads.html
…and look over the downloads for Google Earth. See what the requirements are for the basic and Plus versions. These are Free. The pro version costs $400, but you can try it for free.
Anyway, a friend showed me the basic version his system. I came home and downloaded it. Now, as far as I know, all you get with Basic Google Earth are semi mindboggling views of the planet - close-ups, etc. But then, I saw the Beta version is free, too, so I downloaded it and it integrated seamlessly with the original download.
Controls are intuitive, so after a couple of minutes, I found myself flying low and slow over the Grand Canyon. To coin a phrase, it was uttterly awesome.
There are all kinds of other things you can do with the program, so don’t just sit there, start downloading!!
make that semi mindboggling OVERHEAD views of the planet - i.e. as seen from a satellite.
I just started playing with this yesterday and was blown away. It’s like the special effects in movies where the CIA can zoom in on something for spying. After looking at my house and a couple of other things, I started thinking, “What can I look at that I’m not supposed to see?”
I typed in Pyongyang, North Korea and it zoomed into it. There wasn’t much to see there, it was just kind of blurry. But you can switch on international borders and looking at the south near the border you can see all kinds of buildings and roads.
I was thinking, geez if I were in North Korea doing this, I’d be shot!
It is unbelievably cool. I wish you could see more from the side though 'cause no street signs are visible.
put a check in the box next to streets and the street names will display
Also, go down close to ground level, then use the tilt back control - next to the circular arrow, I think.
Keep tilting back until you’re level and then glide along forward, backwards, left right, go in circles, etc. Great fun…
I can’t get anywhere in Africa and I’d like to skim along in a major city like Gabarone, Botswana, but no can do. Any suggestions?
South Africa is beautifully visible in Google Earth. My city is Pretoria, which is a pretty decent sized city, as well as the Administrative Capital. There’s even a place mark for the Union Buildings, which would equate somewhat with… Capitol Hill, I guess.
25 41 51 S 28 12 16 E will stick you in Pretoria. Just copy/paste those coordinates in the “Fly To” bar - Degree symbol necessary.
Botswana, unfortunately, has really crappy shots. As does Jo’burg, oddly.
Sorry that should have said “Some of South Africa is beautifully visible”…
Also, the area around the Pyramids is very nicely visible in Egypt.
Some things I’ve “found”, by way of searching manually (I have a lot of free time, yes):
Area 51
Sydney Opera House
Hotels I stayed at in London