Earth, by Google

  Did you ever go treasure hunting as a kid? As an adult? Did you have the whole adventure? Finding that ancient map that gives directions in paces and landmarks? A great big X to tell you where to start digging?

  I love finding things. I pick up every coin I see on the street. I work puzzles until the solution is discovered. I like to go on adventures where I try to get as lost as possible and finding my way home again, by paths never traveled. Eating at restaurants I've never heard of, playing in parks I come across, leaving my plans to chance.

  I love looking at a map and finding where I am, where I'm going, and where I've been. I also look for where I'd like to go, planning imaginary vacations and the travels that would accompany them. I look for places of legend and history.

  Google Earth is the ultimate atlas. You can spin it from far away, or you can look at it in extreme detail. From the macrocosm of continents and oceans to the microcosms of neighborhoods. Those old desktop globes often had too much information jammed on not enough space. Country names would obscure borders, rivers, and mountains. In an atlas you could switch from a map of a large area to a zoomed in version some pages on. They are like a choose your own adventure book. But in an age when video games are steadily replacing such adventure books, it only makes sense that a computer program would replace a reference book.

  I could go on about how much I love just wandering around in Google Earth. How I pin places I've been or heard about. After pinning a series of things I can take a longer view, see how they are placed in relation to each other. What it will take to get from one to another. Projects I've worked on in the past include marking the seven ancient wonders of the world, Hannibal's greatest battles, and tracing the Great Wall of China. But, by far, mapping the Columbia River Basin is my most ambitious work to date. Once I am done with the project, I plan on exporting out a copy to post as the cherry on top, to finish this blog.

  If you don't yet have Google Earth, you should get it. It's fun, fascinating, educational for kids (or adults), and free. If you've used Google Maps, you have used a toned down version of Google Earth. You can do the same tricks as in Google Maps, but far more as well. I use Google Earth to get directions to where I want to go, but also to find out the distances between things (as the crow flies). You can pick it up here:

http://www.google.com/intl/en/earth/index.html

  Oh My God! Google Earth 6 is now available! GET IT!

  Next time I will talk about tools and techniques in Google Earth for mapping. I'll include pictures (!) and downloads (!).

Happy hunting,

Brett