Google Maps

[+HartClimbs]

I know this has probably been posted in the "big" forums (but who reads those anyway)....

 

If you haven't already - check out google maps (maps.google.com) and when you're looking at the street map - look to the upper right and click on "Satellite".

 

Forget those old grainy terraserver images - these are sweet, and the scrolling built into google maps is really nice.

 

First a great search engine, then gmail, then picassa, and now satellite maps. They just continue to amaze me with what they come up with.

 

p.s. When you see the clarity of these free publicly available maps, just imagine for a second how close-up and clear the classified government images must be.

Edited April 6, 2005 by HartClimbs

[+Team J&J]

Here here...or...Hear hear!

 

However, they don't, so far, let you enter lats/longs. I sent in my feedback. Maybe other geocachers can do the same...I'm sure they're working on it.

 

One day, Google will be just one big Operating System, with everyone's files stored and everything interconnected. Then, it's only a matter of time before it becomes...self-aware. And then we'll all be doomed.

 

But hey, it's better than Microsoft any day.

[+Rattlehead]

However, they don't, so far, let you enter lats/longs.  I sent in my feedback.  Maybe other geocachers can do the same...I'm sure they're working on it.

Actually, you can enter coordinates, but they must be entered as decimal degrees, eg. NN.nnnn, -WW.wwww

[+Team J&J]

Thanks! Well...google maps is pretty much perfect. Notice that the pins/balloons for locations even have shadows!

[+Greymane]

That is nothing. I can get DOQQs (digital orthographic quarter quads) for free from the NY GIS site (at one foot resolution). I download them, calibrate them and put them into my Memory-Map software. Then, I can carry them around in the field. Beats the heck out of Mapsource or Mapsend. They are about four times the resolution of the ones on Google maps. (A rough guess.)

[+Pasha]

To link directly to a Lat/Lon pair, here's the format of the URL:

 

http://maps.google.com/maps?q=&ll=47.488667,-122.557233&spn=0.020,0.020&t=k

Drop the "&t=k" from the end to get the regular Google Maps.

 

If you use GSAK, you can drop the following string into Tools/Options/HTML/Custom URLs to link directly from GSAK to the Google Maps satellite view of the area. No pushpins yet, unfortunately:

 

Google Satellite View=http://maps.google.com/maps?q=&ll=%lat,%lon&spn=0.020,0.020&t=k

[avroair]

That is nothing. I can get DOQQs (digital orthographic quarter quads) for free from the NY GIS site (at one foot resolution). I download them, calibrate them and put them into my Memory-Map software. Then, I can carry them around in the field. Beats the heck out of Mapsource or Mapsend. They are about four times the resolution of the ones on Google maps. (A rough guess.)

Wow! cool, how about the rest of us.

Google will do just fine. Thanks for the heads up.

[Geoman007]

WOW! I saw my house from the satelite view and it showed some of the little details. It even showed the trails in the park across the strret from my house!

[+Team J&J]

If you use GSAK, you can drop the following string into Tools/Options/HTML/Custom URLs to link directly from GSAK to the Google Maps satellite view of the area.  No pushpins yet, unfortunately:

 

Google Satellite View=http://maps.google.com/maps?q=&ll=%lat,%lon&spn=0.020,0.020&t=k

Ooooooo....aaaaaahhhh. That's nice. A new URL for GSAK...very cool.

 

Although you can't add pushpins, there is a way to add bookmarklets and even animate the google map.

 

HOW-TO: Make your own annotated multimedia Google map

 

[+headmj]

The detail satellite imagery is very uneven. There was great coverage for Baldwinsville, NY but terrible images for Westfield, NY and Sharonvile, OH. The maps themselves were very nice

[avroair]

Wow! I can see my house! And where my cache mission caches are!!! This is SO cool.

 

BRILLIANT!

[+trowel32]

Thanks, I was looking for something like this - more up to date aerial maps for Pennsylvania. Although they are a little warped and low resolution, they are good enough for my purposes. Some areas weren't mapped though

[+Mickey225]

Well when my Honey came home yesterday from work, he told me about it and we've been playing with it ever since... that's just REALLY cool!

[+Spoon!]

If you use GSAK, you can drop the following string into Tools/Options/HTML/Custom URLs to link directly from GSAK to the Google Maps satellite view of the area.  No pushpins yet, unfortunately:

 

Google Satellite View=http://maps.google.com/maps?q=&ll=%lat,%lon&spn=0.020,0.020&t=k

Ooooooo....aaaaaahhhh. That's nice. A new URL for GSAK...very cool.

 

Although you can't add pushpins, there is a way to add bookmarklets and even animate the google map.

 

HOW-TO: Make your own annotated multimedia Google map

 

Team J&J -

 

Thanks for the link. BTW, I like your avatar!

 

Spoon!

 

[avroair]

Cool! I just spotted BrianSnat's house... second stage of the multi goes, right about there ...

[+Pasha]

Someone else came up with a way to put a pushpin in a Google Map via the URL, but unfortunately the pushpin gets shoved to the nearest road as it's part of the Directions logic. Can still be useful, however. Here's the the GSAK custom URL syntax:

Google Maps Pushpin=http://maps.google.com/maps?spn=0.040,0.040&saddr=%lat,%lon&daddr=%lat,%lon&hl=en