Stop whatever you are doing. Really. Unless you are caring for your sick mother, desperately need to go to the bathroom or there is a tornado heading for your house, stop whatever you are doing.
I have just installed one of the coolest applications I have seen in a long time. I'm sure you will agree.
Earlier this year, I wrote about Microsoft's Terraserver, which give an ariel view of the US using USGS topographic maps.
Keyhole, recently acquired by Google, takes this concept to the next level. You start with the big blue ball we live on. Type in an address, city, state or zip, and watch Keyhole zoom in to your location with the latest NASA satellite maps. Get closer. Go ahead. You can see the car in your driveway.
Not cool enough for you? Tilt the map on its axis. Check out the 3D terrain. Rotate it. Now jet off to Maui and envy the people on the beach. Too hot for you? Zoom over to Paris and wave to the Eiffel tower.
But that's enough blabber from me. Go download Keyhole. It's Mapquest on steroids. Be sure to come back and tell me what you think.
Is it free?
There is a 7-day free trial. After that it is $29/year to register your own copy. Worth it as far as I am concerned.
The images on Keyhole are far more up to date. On Terraserver the image of where I live in Broken Arrow hadn't been updated since the early 90s.
Joel,
This is very cool...but is there any way to focus it more clearly after it reaches 100%? Because on the few addresses I entered, it ended up too blurry to be able to really make out anything. It's like it stops zooming in prematurely.