Dot Product

I’ve been enamored with Google Maps for quite some time now. In fact, I’ve permanently deleted any references to old mapping applications offered by other monkeys. We’re that tight.

A while ago, Google made Google Earth available, but without a Mac version, I just skipped it. After all, it couldn’t be much better than the satellite feature on Google Maps, right?

Wrong.

I gave it a try today, firing up the PC that usually lays dormant at my feet, like some sort of forgotten pet. It was well worth the trip. In addition to the eye-candy features that let you fly from place to place and look at topography in 3D (ok, a 2D representation of 3D), it’s also much easier to use for navigation, and a whole lot more responsive than the Web app… of course, right?

In addition, it is integrated with Google Local, so you can still find the nearest pizza in Osaka Japan. Ultra cool.

The interface has a spot near the bottom of the screen that says “Streaming” with some pips next to it. Ah, that it were indicating a LIVE FEED FROM ORBITING MIND CONTROL SATELLITES! Alas, it’s not.

Yet.

So if you’re a geographile (is that even a word? DIBS!), you could hardly do worse than grab the free download. It’s very schweet,