While watching CNN on Katrina news, we kept seeing maps with "Google Earth" up in the corner. Got curious enough to go see and found a fascinating site with a fly over type mapping software for free. http://earth.google.com/. $20 for the paid version which I haven't done so cannot say how it is. Maps are previous years satellite shots, not real time but what a wealth of information. Maps can't be too old as our road is only four years old and is on the map.

Anne

Maps are previous years satellite shots, not real time but what a wealth of information. Maps can't be too old as our road is only four years old and is on the map.

Anne

I'm amazed at how fast these mapping companies can update their maps. I live on the edge of paper company lands, and ride their roads a lot - hunting, berry picking, "scavenging" firewood, and just looking. Anytime there is a new road, spur, extension, etc., it will show up in Delorme's Atlas the next year.

Sheesh! :D :D

This is one of the neatest web sites I've seen in a long time...I've spent hours today zooming in all over the world! Can't wait to see what the paid version does!

I've come up with a way to link GSAK (http://gsak.net/) to Google Earth (http://earth.google.com). In GSAK, do Tools, Options, HTML and add the following line at the bottom:

Google Earth=http://www.nearby.org.uk/googleEarth.kml.php?lat=%lat&long=%lon&p=%code

Now you can right-click on a cache and pick Google Earth from the Custom URL menu! Google Earth will pan to the new location but will not change the zoom level.

For you FireFox (http://www.mozilla.org/products/firefox/central.html) users, there's something even cooler! On this site (http://www.nearby.org.uk/google.html) you can find instructions on how to open Geocaching waypoints in Google Earth directly from Geocaching.com (http://forums.groundspeak.com/GC/index.php?showtopic=96544&st=50#entry1589043), and how to view Travel Bug tracks in Google Earth (http://forums.groundspeak.com/GC/index.php?showtopic=103162). It requires a free plugin for FireFox called GreaseMonkey (http://greasemonkey.mozdev.org/). Sorry, I don't know of any such addon for IE users.

Firefox + GreaseMonkey = LOVE :D

Is there a reason why my maps are blurry? Do I not have something set right?

:confused: :confused: :confused:

I was wondering the same thing myself Bruce. I was not that impressed with it.

I was wondering the same thing myself Bruce. I was not that impressed with it.

Thanks. I was waiting for someone to say "put your glasses on", or "try it when you're sober". Glad someone else is "handicapped". LOL!

mine was blurry, too actually, when i did where i live, it was really pretty clear, but all the other places i tried were just awful thanks for letting me know it wasn't just me!

Yeah, unfortunately a lot of the Maine areas haven't been flown over with hi-res aerial photography yet. I looks like some states (Massachusetts, Illinois, etc) have 100% coverage. There are some tools to prepare overlays from other sources, I will see if there's a way to get the older USGS aerial photos on there. I know you can with NASA World Wind.

Yeah, unfortunately a lot of the Maine areas haven't been flown over with hi-res aerial photography yet. I looks like some states (Massachusetts, Illinois, etc) have 100% coverage. There are some tools to prepare overlays from other sources, I will see if there's a way to get the older USGS aerial photos on there. I know you can with NASA World Wind.

If you go this page here: http://bbs.keyhole.com/ubb/showflat.php/Cat/0/Number/52813/page/0/fpart/all/vc/1

You can download a placemark that will allow you download the 1m orthos. I tried for ME (near Bath) and it seems to work fine. Its a little quirky. You need to select the orthos, zoom into about 5k feet altitude and wait a few seconds before they download.

GO$Rs

Thanks for posting that! It's exactly what I've been looking for to add on to Google Earth. It is a little quirky, but gets the job done.

Don't know if anyone has noticed, but when I opened Google Earth today, I noticed that about 1/3 of the state is now covered by the high-res photography! So if you plan on caching in one of the following counties, you can take advantage of it:
York
Cumberland
Sagadahoc
Androscoggin
Oxford
Kennebec
Lincoln
Franklin
Somerset (southern half)The imagery is dated 2006, but I think it's at least couple years older than that; it doesn't show my new shed in our backyard, or my neighbor's paved driveway.

WOW that's cool Glen and now if I can only get high speed internet one of these days it will be worth using it. :rolleyes:

...it doesn't show my new shed in our backyard, or my neighbor's paved driveway.

This comment cracked me up! I think there are many out there who are a lot more concerned at the level of detail these maps offer. But being among the set that likes this technology, I think it's very cool you can see your unpaved driveway. :)

Don't know if anyone has noticed, but when I opened Google Earth today, I noticed that about 1/3 of the state is now covered by the high-res photography! So if you plan on caching in one of the following counties, you can take advantage of it:

Just happened to notice that on Friday myself. Gotta love it! I am guessing the sweep (at least in the Bangor-Brewer area), as you said, was probably done somewhere between 2-3 years ago, based on construction (ie, Brewer Applebee'sand the new Dirigo Drive in Brewer, among other things, are not in the satellite pictures).

-RanMan22

I love the detail, but sometimes the lag in photos is a good thing. I can't remember if it was a school project my kid had or some other factor, but I became very curious about a very large earth mover named Big Muskie in Ohio. I found a few web pages, which was exciting, but then I got obsessed with finding Big Muskie on Microsoft Terraserver's aerial photos. The problem was, Big Muskie had been dismantled a year before that! It took several emails and many hours looking through aerial photos to get an idea where Big Muskie once stood, and then one day, there it was, at N 39° 48.7174' W 81° 1.4647' !

So I looked for an image to compare it to, and decided to use the bridge here between Bangor and Brewer. Oddly enough, the aerial photo taken of that bridge was taken while the new bridge was being built, and the old one was still being used, so it spapped a piece of history as well!

Big Muskie can still be seen on terrasever here (http://terraserver.microsoft.com/image.aspx?T=1&S=12&Z=17&X=551&Y=5508&W=1).
It appears GoogleEarth's images are too new, however...
More info on Big Muskie can be found at http://little-mountain.com/bigmuskie/

Here's a picture of that comparison:
http://www.bytethebullet.com/geocaching/fora/big_muskie.jpg

That is some pretty neat stuff Dave. It may not have interested anyone else but you got me interested.

Wow, I grew up near there and never even knew! (suprising, it looks like it could have been seen from across the state!) that thing is huge!

Another ariel photos sight for Maine is Maine Geographical information Systems http://apollo.ogis.state.me.us/maps/ The map over my house seems to be a couple of years old but are in color and is quite clear.

Another ariel photos sight for Maine is Maine Geographical information Systems http://apollo.ogis.state.me.us/maps/ The map over my house seems to be a couple of years old but are in color and is quite clear.
If you look photos at both sites you will see that they are the same topos. These topos are over five years old. I know this because of the vehicles that are parked at my house.

If you look photos at both sites you will see that they are the same topos. These topos are over five years old. I know this because of the vehicles that are parked at my house.
Sorry about that. I am on dial up so I don't usually have the patience to wait for the darn things to load. It does seem though that the google maps are a lot slower loading. But that could just have been my patience level at the time.

They definitely updated the Sebago area...my in-laws place is in hi-def.

They did the same with the Topsham/Bruniswick area recently. I can see my house now!

Interestingly enough, the imagery reads (C)2006 but I would judge is at LEAST 5 years old, based on some of the changes to the area in the last 5 years.

I'd love it if they put the actual year on the photograph data, so you knew how old it was.

On the other hand, it's become my #1 mapping tool, especially with the Geocaching KML from geocaching.com showing all the caches for me, and all the fantastic overlays and other data. Just toooo cooool for words.