Google Earth

[obriendan]

Those who would like an aerial (i.e. satellite) view of the ports they will visit should try Google Earth (go to Google.com, click on more..., and scroll down to Google Earth). The resolution is at times quite amazing. For example we could "see" the hotels in Paris and Rotterdam where we will be staying at in a few weeks. It’s a great program and it’s free!

[Candy]

Those who would like an aerial (i.e. satellite) view of the ports they will visit should try Google Earth (go to Google.com, click on more..., and scroll down to Google Earth). The resolution is at times quite amazing. For example we could "see" the hotels in Paris and Rotterdam where we will be staying at in a few weeks. It’s a great program and it’s free!

I spent about 4 hours the other night flying across country. It's amazing to see my childhood neighborhood torn down, as well as all the new skyscrapers in the Loop. The more I saw, the more I looked for! There's no manual, so you have to experiment to learn how to use it, but it's awesome!

 

Candy <-- looking for the upgrade fairy

[jhannah]

With the resolutions shown, makes you wonder why they haven't found Bin Laden yet!

[RevNeal]

Apple Macintosh computers are not supported at this time (but we are working on it).

 

grrrrrr ... oh, well ... there's an on-line version of this too. Google.com/maps/satelite. Not half bad.

[Stevesan]

Thank you, thank you, thank you. That's absolutely amazing. But my wife won't go into the front yard and wave to me:(

[RevNeal]

Humph ... I just checked port Everglades on the Google.com maps/satellite page ... when the orbital photo was taken of the port there were know HAL ships in ... just a great big Princess Floating Apartment Building.

 

Still, it makes for an interesting view from above. You can see the HAL ship terminals and such.

[Candy]

...snip... Still, it makes for an interesting view from above. You can see the HAL ship terminals and such.

I especially like the tilt feature... even though it's a tilted flat image, it gives my the perspective I need to figure out where I am.

[RevNeal]

But my wife won't go into the front yard and wave to me

 

Given that these satellite photos are rather old, you would have to wait about 5 years to see her doing it. :)

[RevNeal]

And ... there's no ship in port at San Diego.

Boo ... hiss ....

[obriendan]

Just checked Ft. Lauderdale on Google Earth. Like you said, Revneal, no cruise ships in Port Everglades except for the Princess ship near the Seventeenth St. Bridge. Nothing at the cruise terminals except a few small container ships.

[Randyk47]

I can attest to the "age" of the images......my house is an undeveloped piece of land on the Google site but in truth the house is 4 years old. :)

[RevNeal]

There's a HAL ship at Canada Place. Not sure which one it is ... though it's certainly an S-class. You can see the roof has been retracted from the Lido Deck pool. It could be the Statendam herself. But ... it's hard to tell.

 

Let see if one can link to it:

 

http://maps.google.com/maps?ll=49.288080,-123.111591&spn=0.006217,0.008735&t=k&hl=en

[RevNeal]

The sat images of lower Manhattan are post 91101 ... but if you go up to Central park and scan up it's length at one point you'll notice that the grass goes, suddenly and in a line, from dark green to brown. Must be the point where they matched together shots taken in the Fall as opposed to shots taken in the Spring or Summer.

 

Three cruise ships in port in NYC ... none HAL.

[obriendan]

Revneal,

 

From Google Earth, the same picture shows an S class HAL ship on the left and a Princess (?) on the right

[Krazy Kruizers]

revneal

Thanks for the quick link.

I have windows XP - but the other link would take too long to down load - yours was wonderful.

We have had a ball with it the last few minutes.

[CDRMark]

This is great stuff, some older than others, some fairly recent (they have to make a buck!). The resolution is comparable to DOD stuff about 1975ish.

 

According to open source materials (thank you Aviation Week) but never commented on, current resolution will probably show golf ball dimples.

http://www.nro.gov/ does all the really cool stuff.

Cheers

MarkB

[RevNeal]

Yep, that's the same shot.

So, you agree with me that it's an S-class HAL ship on the left. As for the ship on the right, I have no idea. It's quite long. Might it be a Celebrity ship? I don't think it looks like a Princess vessel ... though I could be very wrong on that, since I've never been aboard a Princess.

 

One can really waste a Saturday with this stuff. :)

I checked out Seagoville and I can, with certainty, date the photo taken there as being at least 5 years old but not more than 6 years old. I knew there had been a great deal of development in my Suburb of Dallas since I had arrived -- a couple of thousand new homes, some big box stores, a couple of restaurants, etc. -- but I hadn't realized how much had happened during the immediate 2 years prior to my arrival here. Looking at these orbital photos of my area I'm struck how how quickly all the land around my church is being filled in. There are 4000 new homes going in out to our east, 5000 south of us, and 500 just to our north. There are 2 new big box stores going in along US 175, and a major redevelopment project of the old downtown quarter just (to our west). NONE of this shows up on the photos. In the photos, Seagoville looks like it did in 1999/2000. Even the Church is different ... no rear parking lot, no front parking spots, no playground in the yard behind the church. All of these have been added since I got here.

 

Can anyone think of ports other than Port Everglades, San Diego, Vancouver, and New York where HAL ships might be caught? I tried the Bahamas (and found HMC) but the images lack needed resolution.

[stormyc]

(RevNeal - my DH was born and raised in Kaufman, TX. :) )

[RevNeal]

I have a US NAVY friend who, a couple of years ago, told me that the then-current sat photos had sufficient resolution to enable the identification of individuals and the reading of opened newspapers from orbit. He said that they, more than once, would watch President Clinton's golf games from orbit ... and they knew when he was cheating (playing golf).

[willowoodf]

Google Earth is so cool! I just downloaded. I can tell you that the map of my house is 2 years or less, because our pool is in it, and we just put it in the summer before last! Yup, I can see where you can waste a LOT of time playing with this!!

 

Mary

[cruznon]

I used the Google to zoom in on Venice---the canals,etc. amazing!

Check out Paris and see the Eiffel Tower!

Think I'll check out Vancouver...

[RevNeal]

...my DH was born and raised in Kaufman, TX. :)

 

stormyc ... it's a small world, isn't it? This whole area, south-east of Dallas, has changed so much over the last 5 years that I doubt he'd recognize it unless he's been back recently. It won't be many more years (within a decade) that it will be pretty much solid suburb all the way to Kaufman from the Dallas County line. It's nearly that way now from I-635 to Crandall, and they've got HUGE developments going in out east of Crandall that stretch as far as the eye can see north and south of 175.

[Oceanwench]

With the resolutions shown, makes you wonder why they haven't found Bin Laden yet!

 

The first good laugh I've had today! :D

[CDRMark]

.. it's a small world, isn't it?

"But I wouldn't want to paint it." -Steven Wright

Cheers

MarkB

[stormyc]

stormyc ... it's a small world, isn't it? This whole area, south-east of Dallas, has changed so much over the last 5 years that I doubt he'd recognize it unless he's been back recently. It won't be many more years (within a decade) that it will be pretty much solid suburb all the way to Kaufman from the Dallas County line. It's nearly that way now from I-635 to Crandall, and they've got HUGE developments going in out east of Crandall that stretch as far as the eye can see north and south of 175.

 

Yes, I agree... We return once or twice a year for a visit (...stupid Wright Amendment makes it quite the hassle, I'm afraid - must stop over in Albuquerque or El Paso) ...we note major changes each time - kind of sad to see a beautiful tree-lined pasture become a Super WalMart, but inevitable I suppose. Kaufman itself seems to be trying to avoid the development - a small town stuck in the past. Always feel the stark contrast from the desert landscape of Arizona to the lush green of the Dallas area.