# Where can I see my house from? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [June 18, 2004, 7:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-can-i-see-my-house-from/251101 "2004-06-18T19:40:20Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![SSgtBaloo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ac91a4/32.png) [@SSgtBaloo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SSgtBaloo)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2004, 7:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-can-i-see-my-house-from/251101/1 "2004-06-18T19:40:20Z")
There used to be a website where you could type in your street address and view a satellite image of your location (or something like that). I’ve since moved to Oregon. I live less than 30 miles from Mount Hood, and it would be cool if I could look up my new digs and see just where I am relative to the mountain (and the town of Hood River – the nearest large settlement). I don’t have the URL to the satellite place anymore and I don’t even know if it exists anymore. Can someone recommend a website that will either bring up a satellite image of my new digs or a topographical map of the area? Thanks! –SSgtBaloo ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2004, 9:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-can-i-see-my-house-from/251101/2 "2004-06-18T21:16:15Z")
I’ve always used [http://terraserver.microsoft.com](http://terraserver.microsoft.com) Does this help? ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2004, 10:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-can-i-see-my-house-from/251101/3 "2004-06-18T22:43:26Z")
I prefer [Terrafly](http://www.terrafly.com/). ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2004, 10:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-can-i-see-my-house-from/251101/4 "2004-06-18T22:49:04Z")
Terraserver is a bit more detailed ([I think I can see our car here!)](http://terraserver.microsoft.com/image.aspx?t=4&s=8&x=6327&y=86067&z=18&w=1) but doesn’t seem as easy to use. ---
**Author:** ![rowrrbazzle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rowrrbazzle/32/414_2.png) [@rowrrbazzle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rowrrbazzle)\ **Post date:** [June 19, 2004, 1:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-can-i-see-my-house-from/251101/5 "2004-06-19T01:55:47Z")
For selected urban areas, [http://nationalmap.usgs.gov](http://nationalmap.usgs.gov) has the highest resolution photos I’ve ever seen for free. Unfortunately, your area isn’t one of them. ---
**Author:** ![SSgtBaloo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ac91a4/32.png) [@SSgtBaloo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SSgtBaloo)\ **Post date:** [June 19, 2004, 7:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-can-i-see-my-house-from/251101/6 "2004-06-19T19:51:31Z")
Thanks! Using Terrafly, I can actually see the house I’m living in now. What I’m trying to do now is find out the distance (as the crow flies) from here to the peak od Mount Hood (prominently visible from the front porch of the house – It’s HUGE!). My nephew says it’s 29 miles by road to the other side, so it’s gotta be closer than that, but I can’t seem to figure out the scale of Terrafly’s map. Is there a website with topographical maps I can look this up at? If I have a scale, I can measure it on the screen and figure it out myself. –SSgtBaloo ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2004, 4:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-can-i-see-my-house-from/251101/7 "2004-06-20T04:30:17Z")
> [@SSgtBaloo](#): > > Thanks! Using Terrafly, I can actually see the house I’m living in now. What I’m trying to do now is find out the distance (as the crow flies) from here to the peak od Mount Hood (prominently visible from the front porch of the house – It’s HUGE!). My nephew says it’s 29 miles by road to the other side, so it’s gotta be closer than that, but I can’t seem to figure out the scale of Terrafly’s map. > > Is there a website with topographical maps I can look this up at? If I have a scale, I can measure it on the screen and figure it out myself. > > –SSgtBaloo The Microsoft website I pointed to you has a scale on the bottom of the webpage. [Here’s a link to the address find section of the webpage](http://terraserver.microsoft.com/address.aspx) You should be able to find it from there. It’s too bad Clovis, New Mexico, doesn’t have a more updated map. Chicago has an “Urban Areas” map from 2002, and it is absolutely astounding. Full color, incredible resolution. [I mean, check out Wrigley Field](http://terraserver.microsoft.com/addressimage.aspx?t=4&s=9&lon=-87.6556562650671&lat=41.9480996820612&alon=-87.65566985&alat=41.94720039&w=1&ref=A%7c1060+W+Addison+St%2c+Chicago%2c+IL+60613)…and you still have one leve of zoom left!!! Technology is incredible. And to think, this is only what’s available to civilians… ---
**Author:** ![rowrrbazzle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rowrrbazzle/32/414_2.png) [@rowrrbazzle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rowrrbazzle)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2004, 9:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-can-i-see-my-house-from/251101/8 "2004-06-20T21:26:03Z")
The National Map viewer I linked to above has the “measure” facility where you click on 2 points on a map or photo and it will give you the distance. I tried it on the high-res photo of my neighborhood and it was exact. The National Map can be a bit hard to use because of all the layers it supplies. You’ll want to turn off the shaded relief layer (under “elevation”) and turn on the DRG layer (under “orthoimagery”). I went ahead and brought that up, and the distance from the summit of Mt. Hood to the Hood River bridge was given as 25 miles. From the difficulty of seeing the streets in detail at the scale that includes both the mountain and that intersection, you’ve got a couple of possibilities. 1. locate the house, zoom straight out until Mt. Hood enters the viewer, then measure. 2. get the latitude and longitude of the house and Mt. Hood from one of the online maps, and find a formula on the web to calculate the distance from that. ---
**Author:** ![dnooman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/839c29/32.png) [@dnooman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dnooman)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2004, 9:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-can-i-see-my-house-from/251101/9 "2004-06-20T21:41:26Z")
You can also try [www.keyhole.com](http://www.keyhole.com) there’s a free trial. It’s freakin’ sweet! I just retraced my old bike route to school from when I used to live in CA. That brings back memories. [Slight hijack] Anyone know where I might find Area 51?😃 No, seriously, a general vicinity maybe?