Want to know more about a specific location? Dive right in -- Google Earth combines satellite imagery, maps and the power of Google Search to put the world's geographic information at your fingertips.

Fun stuff. I especially enjoyed zooming in on certain places that I've visited over the years. Though sometimes their labels were a bit confusing. For example, I had some trouble finding Hong Kong, though Macau showed up when I turned "borders" on. And some remote areas are still very limited in terms of detail (such as Hainan Island). In Peru, I saw where "Cuzco" was labeled, but the label didn't seem to actually mark a settled area, and I could never find the airport. May just be mislabeled though (like the label for the Sphinx is about a mile off, too). Could never spot Angkor Wat. Did see the general location of the Sydney Opera House, but not close enough to actually pick out any detail.

On the up side, the close-up of CIA HQ is as good as is publicly available. And I could zoom close enough to see the house where I was staying last week in a small village (population: 1000) in Croatia. Checking on my office in St. Charles, I could see enough detail to tell that my car was not in the parking lot at the time that the picture was taken. My car wasn't in my apartment parking lot either, so I must have been driving around for lunch or something, or else I just managed to miss the scans of those two areas.

Fun time-waster!

Elonka :)

Google Earth