Last summer, my husband was working out on our front porch doing some priming and painting, when he noticed a vehicle driving slowly down the street. He mentioned it to me later, saying that there was a camera mounted to the roof of the vehicle and it appeared to be taking pictures of all the homes on the block.
"Perhaps it's the county assessor's office," I replied, knowing that all property is photographed and available for view on our county's website.
Monday, I read through our local paper's news feed that Spokane had been added to Google Maps' Street View, even before (gasp!) Seattle or Portland have. And I have been having fun ever since! In fact, at work I've been having my students find their homes, friends' homes, and schools during their technology class this week. I've been able to show my own children the places I lived during my college years without using any gasoline. Yesterday, my husband and I had fun "driving" around Vancouver, Washington while he showed me his old haunts.
I'm looking forward to when Grand Rapids and Muskegon, Michigan are offered in Street View so I can check out my ancestral locations. Until then, I'll play with Google Earth, Windows Live Local, and with Google Maps in the cities that do offer Street View.
4 comments:
Oh, I love Google Street View too - all of Manhattan, lots of Brooklyn and Queens - am having so much fun looking up old addresses, my old schools (which look unchanged BTW from the 1970s).
I love those street view maps! Though I found the Windows Live Local to be better than Google Earth, as I haven't figured out how to get a head-on look at houses on the latter. Is Google Street View different from Google Earth?
I'm also a Google Street View fan! Kansas City and Albuquerque are two of my historical places that are available. I check regularly to see what new places are added.
Laura and Craig, thanks for sharing your experiences!
Colleen, Google Street View is different from Google Earth. GSV are images taken from the street in a vehicle, while Google Earth has images taken from satellites. However, you can zoom in fairly close to earth with GE, and it has 3D capabilities which make "flying" over the Rocky Mountains quite fun! Try it out (you'll need DSL or cable Internet)!
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