Fun w/Google Earth

[ActionJackson]

Was buzzing around the Himalayas and SW China tonight with Google Earth. Go to the coords below (too bad ya can't attach a KMZ here) and work your way upstream, esp. up the trib that enters river left.

Lat: 27°22'41.17"N
Lng: 86° 2'45.95"E

Other fun fly-overs to be had in the Grand Canyon, Niagara Falls, and Great Falls on the Potomac. Post up if you have other river favorites.

[yetigonecrazy]

oh man google earth has been my crack for at least two years now. seriously, that shit is so addicting. i'll go on, intending to be like five minutes, looking for one thing. two hours later im still going strong.....

some of my personal favorites- Black Canyon (winterized), Eldo Springs, Shoshone, Middle Fork San Joaquin in CA (find the crucible, holy shit....), Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone, and Pilar/Lower Box (check out the rafts!)

[cayo]

Pardon my ignorance and my computer is a pos ,so I can't go there,but does it cover the whole world? I gather it is satelite imagery,how much detail can you see , individual drops/rapids?Do you need to buy something or is it like a website? Would it be worth it for a geography crackhead to go to an internet cafe to check out?

thanx

[yetigonecrazy]

it does cover the whole world, but not all of it is in high resolution. a good chunk of the US is also in low res, but large "strips" of high res coverage makes viewing some runs possible. Its free at http://www.keyhole.com, or search the web for "Google Earth 4". How much you can see depends on the resolution of where youre looking at. For example, the Crested Butte area has a big chunk of high res through it, so you can see it snowmass, highlands, and buttermilk all very well. But just 30 miles downvalley, Gunnison is still in low res so you can see much.

It is a very incredible program, and i think it will have more impact in years to come than what we see now. definitely check it out if you have the option!

[ActionJackson]

yeti, I'll check out those spots you mentioned above. Agree, it's addictive. I squeezed 5 mins of scoping into an hour or so last night. When's someone going to hack this and Microsoft Flight Sim together for the righteous desktop aviation experience?