Google, the Mountain View, Calif. company which formally started as a Web-based search engine, is enveloping all phases of our life -- and this time it is tourism.
In the fall of last year, the rumored offer to buy Google by Bill Gates from its young brash millionaires was rejected, paving the way for a never-ending clash between Microsoft and Google. It didn't take long for the co-founders, Sergey Brin and Larry Page, to realize the potential in their company in the tech world today.
Out of the ever-changing Google everyday, one of the most important features introduced recently by Googleplex was its new satellite mapping engine, known as "Google Earth," powered by Keyhole. Keyhole, a satellite mapping company, was bought sometime back as part of the so-called "Googology."
Not long after the Google Earth landed on the market, it became one of the popular issues discussed over the Web. The New York Times claimed it "for anyone who has ever dreamed of flying." The hottest time-waster in town could potentially change the way we search places in our daily lives, plan events, and nonetheless become "a great tool for architects, travelers and hobbyists alike."
Imagine exploring your favorite places with some clicks away without having to leave your desk -- going down the Grand Canyon, looking over Eiffel Tower, going through the streets of Venice or exploring the Bermuda, all at your fingertips.
The concept is quite simple. You have the whole globe on your PC. You type in the place you want to fly to and then zoom in (sometimes to street level) to explore anywhere on this planet. Furthermore, Google Earth provides local searches in a few countries namely the United States, Britain, other European countries and just recently China. The local searches provide in-depth road/rail networks, buildings, public places and some local points of interest with facts on the sidebar.
Long gone are those days when you had to take notes of routes and exits to take when visiting your long-lost cousin. Google Earth takes you on a ride through every possible route along any road or highway to your final destination. Just do a local search of your desired destination and make your way through the integrated system of roads.
An interesting aspect of the technology about Google Earth is the transitions from the moment you enter your destination until you reach it. How smoothly your screen moves while you go from the small globe as it enlarges to your specific location is nothing but awesome. The flexibility of the zoom in or out feature helps you adjust to the desired height of view coupled with the angle of elevation. Similarly, the east-west rollover feature that adjusts how you want to see what you desire just adds to the interactive user-friendly software. By cleverly exploiting the images already downloaded to your PC, Google Earth works regressively in the background downloading new data off its server to give you smooth transformations as quickly as possible.
You never know: You might be watched every step of the way -- when you go to work in the morning or drop your kids off to school or even when you are being stalked by your ex-boyfriend. In response to privacy rights or security issues such as these, Google Earth responds to these issues on its own Web site quite extensively.
First of all, the information available on Google Earth through images is merely "the same information [that] is available to anyone who flies over or drives by a piece of property," the Web site states.
In addition, there are no private properties with high-zoom features; almost all places are commercial and public places.
Nevertheless, it was rightfully argued by Thai security agencies who expressed real concern about their government buildings and defense bases, though authorities are already working out solutions to formally request Google to block images such as these.
Furthermore, the images are not real-time, because they have been collecting for the past three years and are updated almost everyday. The best way to check out when your dream place was added is to check it out for yourself.
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