Ready to kill some time? Google has been making news recently for their new Google Maps feature. Not only will Google maps find you a typical map of your desired location, a la Mapquest, Google also offers you satellite images of your location as well. On the right side of the screen just click “Satellite,” then type in your location. Some locations offer quite an amazing level of zoom. Check out this image of UTSA. Obviously, the photo was taken last year, as the new buildings aren’t completed yet, but impressive nonetheless.
Wired has a pretty good story about this new feature with some amazing photographs. There is one of a plane landing in Tokyo, and another of the tsunami as it was just hitting Sri Lanka. Just amazing. And this is another site that has found and listed quite a few notable places as well.
Once you get good with the map feature you’ll find you can just put your cursor on the screen and drag the image. This will let you trace roads, rivers, whatever. Right now the mapping feature won’t let you type in the address of a foreign country, but if you have enough time you can just drag the cursor across the ocean. Really. I’m not kidding.