Google's satellite maps

If you haven't tried it yet, try Google Maps on your home town or a world capital that you have visited.

• Enter a city in the search box (e.g., Edmonton or London - it's great!) and hit SEARCH.
• Then select HYBRID, which brings up a combination of the street map and satellite image.
• Hit the + sign to zoom in or the - sign to zoom out
• Click and hold mouse button to navigate map (or use the arrows)
• Select MAP for the normal street map view

It's pretty cool and really gives a sense of where things are in relation to each other, where the green spaces, rivers and lakes are, and what the buildings are like.

Interestingly, the satellite feature has raised security concerns in India:

• Indian president concerned over Google satellite photo service

Zooming in can reveal cars, boats, etc., which reminds me of a scene from John Le Carre's Little Drummer Girl - I think - where real-time satellite images were used to identify a training camp in the desert and target individual terrorists.

More about Google's satellite images