Clark
(Meteorologist)
Fri Aug 19 2005 02:19 AM
Re: Google Earth

Try checking the terrain check box and go over to the Grand Canyon, then turn the elevation angle down almost to level with the ground. The way the terrain features look is pretty cool. Even the slight rises here in Tallahassee are noticeable, with the Capitol Bldg. on the highest hill in downtown -- as it actually is here.

They've got the buildings for about 30 cities in total; Denver is another, as is Atlanta. It's got a few mileage checking features in it -- I use that myself to mark the distance between two points on a hill and then hover over both of them to see the difference in terrain, as I like to bike up a lot of hills here in town. There are a few that are up over 10%...one in particular that's 13% or so for 1/4 mile -- that's steep. There's a lot more to it...try going to Washington DC and go into the feature box at the lower left and have it show rail/transit lines -- your own free map of the metro system. The restaurant listing is huge in this, better than I've seen with even the for-pay programs. It's even got some high-res photos of places in other nations...Bermuda looks nice, as does Sydney.

All in all, well worth the time and download. I've been using it for a couple of months now on my laptop...easily can kill two hours with that thing.



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