# No, Google Earth is not a stalker tool (short and lame) **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [June 9, 2006, 2:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-google-earth-is-not-a-stalker-tool-short-and-lame/360058 "2006-06-09T14:02:24Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 17\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Zakalwe](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zakalwe/32/270_2.png) [@Zakalwe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zakalwe)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2006, 5:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-google-earth-is-not-a-stalker-tool-short-and-lame/360058/21 "2006-06-09T17:38:03Z")
[QUOTE=irishgirl] Heh- Google Earth isn’t up to date. Our new apartment shows up as a hole in the ground with some cranes, and it was built 3 years ago! [/QUOTE] **irishgirl** , what evidence can you offer that when you’re not it doesn’t revert to a hole in the ground with cranes around it? Maybe they just hide that stuff when you’re around… ---
**Author:** ![SisterCoyote](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/958977/32.png) [@SisterCoyote](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SisterCoyote)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2006, 6:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-google-earth-is-not-a-stalker-tool-short-and-lame/360058/22 "2006-06-09T18:03:58Z")
Not only is it not up-to-date, it’s not 100% accurate. When I look for my parents’ address, it pulls up the right street but the wrong house. ---
**Author:** ![Harvey\_The\_Heavy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/c5a1d2/32.png) [@Harvey\_The\_Heavy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Harvey_The_Heavy)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2006, 6:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-google-earth-is-not-a-stalker-tool-short-and-lame/360058/23 "2006-06-09T18:10:31Z")
Didn’t those morons notice that it’s _daylight 24 hours a day all over the earth?!?!_ I’m sure it took quite a while to get the whole planet photographed for that. Notice there are very few clouds, so you know that they had to wait around for weather to clear in a lot of areas. The only clue I’ve found concerning the timeframe is at Dolphins Stadium in Miami the field is painted up for the Orange Bowl between Iowa and USC, which would make it late 2002 or early 2003. And like Soldier Field, Petco Park in San Diego is still a construction site, which would probably make it 2003. Oh, and it looks like someone stole my car and parked it outside my old house. ---
**Author:** ![saoirse](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/5daacb/32.png) [@saoirse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/saoirse)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2006, 6:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-google-earth-is-not-a-stalker-tool-short-and-lame/360058/24 "2006-06-09T18:28:56Z")
I just checked this Google GPS Earth thing out. **tdn** , those ladies are right. you can see people coming and going in & out of their houses. **irishgirl** is also right, though: it’s really out of date. I was looking at my parents’ house, and the sugar maple in the side yard was tiny. Then when my dad came outside, he had a flat top and a thin black tie, and he got into his Ford Falcon and drove away. ---
**Author:** ![Monty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/monty/32/47_2.png) [@Monty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Monty)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2006, 6:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-google-earth-is-not-a-stalker-tool-short-and-lame/360058/25 "2006-06-09T18:58:34Z")
[QUOTE=tdn] OK, now that’s just spooky. But can you tell what I’m wearing _over_ my underwear? [/QUOTE] Wouldv’e been funnier had you said, > [@](#): > > Underwear? But “comedy’s in the mind of the beholder,” I guess. ---
**Author:** ![Bambi\_Hassenpfeffer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bbe5ce/32.png) [@Bambi\_Hassenpfeffer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bambi_Hassenpfeffer)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2006, 7:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-google-earth-is-not-a-stalker-tool-short-and-lame/360058/26 "2006-06-09T19:00:15Z")
It’s so evil and dastardly that it shows my car at the house I moved out of in 2004 and in the parking lot at the store I transferred out of in 2005 AND in the parking lot of the school I graduated from THAT SAME YEAR! How did it know? ---
**Author:** ![mobo85](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b19c9b/32.png) [@mobo85](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mobo85)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2006, 7:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-google-earth-is-not-a-stalker-tool-short-and-lame/360058/27 "2006-06-09T19:13:06Z")
[QUOTE=NurseCarmen] The chip in my head does a much better job at tracking me than Goggle Earth. [/QUOTE] As any _Simpsons_ fan knows, the Goggles do nothing. ---
**Author:** ![tomndebb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b9e5f3/32.png) [@tomndebb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tomndebb)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2006, 8:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-google-earth-is-not-a-stalker-tool-short-and-lame/360058/28 "2006-06-09T20:39:07Z")
[QUOTE=SisterCoyote] Not only is it not up-to-date, it’s not 100% accurate. When I look for my parents’ address, it pulls up the right street but the wrong house. [/QUOTE] Actually, I find that Google™ Earth and [maps.google.com](http://maps.google.com) both mark addresses a bit East and/or a bit South of the actual location. (They are not consistent; I have found markers North and/or West, as well, but not as frequently.) [terraserver.microsft.com](http://terraserver.microsft.com) also tends to spot the markers a bit East and/or South. Back when Mapquest toyed with providing aerial photos, they had exactly the same problem and even with just maps, I find that the Mapquest flag tends to be off by a few yards to a couple hundred yards–generally to the East or South. Sometimes they are dead on, (corporate offices and a school with which I was associated were both good), but residential houses seem to be hit-or-miss. ---
**Author:** ![EddyTeddyFreddy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eddyteddyfreddy/32/18796_2.png) [@EddyTeddyFreddy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EddyTeddyFreddy)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2006, 9:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-google-earth-is-not-a-stalker-tool-short-and-lame/360058/29 "2006-06-09T21:43:39Z")
I suspect that on some streets, too minor to do a full data search and feed for, Google Earth pinpoints addresses arbitrarily, using some kind of distribution algorithm. My address is number 38 on my small side street. Google Earth puts the flag for it about a third of the way down the road, instead of near the far end. I tried feeding in an arbitrary number, 80 I think, and the flag popped onto the right location. ---
**Author:** ![Loopydude](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e56c9b/32.png) [@Loopydude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loopydude)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2006, 10:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-google-earth-is-not-a-stalker-tool-short-and-lame/360058/30 "2006-06-09T22:14:43Z")
[QUOTE=irishgirl] Heh- Google Earth isn’t up to date. Our new apartment shows up as a hole in the ground with some cranes, and it was built 3 years ago! [/QUOTE] Same exact thing here. I was so bummed out. Worse is trying to look up the haunts of my youth in Maine. The great majority of the state looks like a giant smudge when zooming in at the level needed to really make out houses and cars. And worse than that, the few strips that are in higher res. were photographed in late winter, apparently, so there’s snow and ice everywhere, making hit hard to discern what’s a big field, stone ledge, or a small body of water. ---
**Author:** ![Cervaise](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cervaise/32/16693_2.png) [@Cervaise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cervaise)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2006, 10:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-google-earth-is-not-a-stalker-tool-short-and-lame/360058/31 "2006-06-09T22:50:50Z")
> [@](#): > > Google Earth is not a stalker tool Well, crap. _Start \> control panel \> programs \> uninstall_ ---
**Author:** ![Troy\_McClure\_SF](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/troy_mcclure_sf/32/4150_2.png) [@Troy\_McClure\_SF](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Troy_McClure_SF)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2006, 11:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-google-earth-is-not-a-stalker-tool-short-and-lame/360058/32 "2006-06-09T23:22:06Z")
[QUOTE=Sarahfeena] The shot of Soldier Field in Chicago shows it as basically a big hole in the ground. I think the renovation was complete in 2003, so the picture is not super old, but I was actually surprised that a downtown view of a large city would not be more up to date. [/QUOTE] Check out the glorious Millenium Park! ---
**Author:** ![Robot\_Arm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/robot_arm/32/18280_2.png) [@Robot\_Arm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Robot_Arm)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2006, 11:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-google-earth-is-not-a-stalker-tool-short-and-lame/360058/33 "2006-06-09T23:32:09Z")
[QUOTE=Harvey The Heavy] The only clue I’ve found concerning the timeframe is at Dolphins Stadium in Miami the field is painted up for the Orange Bowl between Iowa and USC,… [/QUOTE] I couldn’t find the Orange Bowl, so I decided to check Seahawks Stadium in Seattle. The picture was taken during a game; you can see people in the grandstands and the players on the field. ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2006, 11:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-google-earth-is-not-a-stalker-tool-short-and-lame/360058/34 "2006-06-09T23:43:53Z")
Google Earth always has cloud cover over my house. It’s rather depressing. ---
**Author:** ![SlickRoenick](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e68b1a/32.png) [@SlickRoenick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SlickRoenick)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2006, 4:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-google-earth-is-not-a-stalker-tool-short-and-lame/360058/35 "2006-06-10T04:03:14Z")
Are they still doing Mars Viewer? I remember when that came out and i was mad because they were doing parts of Mars in hi-res, but parts of our planet were still only viewable at the 2 mile altitude mark. When are they going to finish hi-res earth? ---
**Author:** ![Sarahfeena](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sarahfeena/32/519_2.png) [@Sarahfeena](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sarahfeena)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2006, 4:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-google-earth-is-not-a-stalker-tool-short-and-lame/360058/36 "2006-06-10T04:26:42Z")
[QUOTE=Troy McClure SF] Check out the glorious Millenium Park! [/QUOTE] Right! Surprised to see when I zoomed in that Taste of Chicago or some similar fest is going on in Grant Park. ---
**Author:** ![Baldwin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/baldwin/32/7264_2.png) [@Baldwin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baldwin)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2006, 12:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-google-earth-is-not-a-stalker-tool-short-and-lame/360058/37 "2006-06-10T12:44:20Z")
Well, I’ve learned from “24” that you can call up CTU and get a live satellite picture of wherever you are – in infrared, showing where the bad guys are hiding. Or you can just spy on those two women. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-google-earth-is-not-a-stalker-tool-short-and-lame/360058.md?page=1)