Google released their atest version of Google Earth today. The big buzz? Oceans. You can now watch videos of under water adventures inside of Google Earth. Everyone seemed to be excited about this aspect of the new version today. While that’s all well and good… personally, I’m excited about the historical photos. You can now take a section and roll back time to see what it looked like at various intervals.
My first stop was the campus of San Diego State University. I graduated SDSU in 1999 and in 2002 moved to Denver. When I moved back to San Diego in December of 2006 and drove by the old place… I didn’t even recognize it. The construction around the campus was massave! Now, thanks to Google Earth, I can see exactly when it all happened… as well as some buildings and structures that were built before I got there. Awesome.
If you’re in to historical imagery like I am, you’re going to love the new Google Earth. One word of caution though… it’s still a bit clunky. There’s a lot of “extra” data you can choose to include or not (user notes, 3D buildings, etc.). Just remember that the more data you include, the slower the overall experience will be for you. If it boggs down your system and you seem to be waiting, start checking off those options for a smoother ride.
Next I’ll be checking out the ocean layer aspect of it… but there’s a lot more time traveling I’ll be doing first. Enjoy!
