Re: Neat New Satellite Map Program

I have been using Google Maps when I wanted to locate places, etc but
> when my brother was here over the holiday weekend he turned me on to > a _really neat_ service from a company called 'Keyhole', which I have > been told is being / has been acquired by Google.

I have been using Keyhole for about a year. Google did acquire them and when you use Google maps, you can click on a link that is the latest satellite view in their database. They are renaming the product Google Earth, and it will include the ability to show restaurants, hotels, and other points of interest on the image.

It consists of streaming realtime video captured by satellites as they > fly around everywhere.

Not exactly, Pat. The images are not live (try looking at night or on a cloudy day and you will get the same image). You are getting them from their server, so it is not limited by what can be stored on a CD or DVD. You can look on the Keyhole.com site for the date and resolution of the images. Most are within the last 2 years.

I did not have the luck yet with it my brother had, but get this: he > put in his home address and zip code; we see the 'satellite' flying > through the sky, closing in on _your house_ (or whatever address you > choose) and by changing the camera's 'zoom' and its 'tilt' I > actually saw a close up of his front door and a car on the street in > front of his house.

The cool thing about Tilt is you can turn on "Terrain" and it will adjust the 3D views so hills and valleys look very realistic. Unfotunately, only the ground elevations work, so buildings, trees, bridges, etc. are flat.

Brad Houser

[TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: I found that out today also, that the images are stored away. But I have to wonder how many hundreds of thousands of images do they have stored away considering the multiple ways you can angle/tilt/zoom in with the 'camera' you are using. I also found out the price is $29.95 _per year_ to use the poor man's version of the program. PAT]