Scavengeroogle: A Google Maps Scavenger Hunt To Waste More Of Your Time On

I guess the googlemap guys are figuring strike while the iron is hot, because they’ve just launched a free 3D mapping and search product called Google Earth. This is just days after they changed both the google map slider magnification as well as added high resolution google maps in other countries.

This new satellite based mapping product is actually a standalone program. It uses the same technology from Keyhole in order to let you sort of “fly” in from space into street level views. Interestingly, about half a year ago my brother showed me a similar program that let you do exactly that, except I believe you “flew” in from far outer space in order to visit Earth.

The software is free to download and has the following features (from the press release):

- 3D buildings in major cities across the United States
- 3D terrain showing mountains, valleys, and canyons around the world
- Integrated Google Local search to find local information such as hotels, restaurants, schools, parks, and transportation
- Fast, dynamic navigation
- Video playback of driving directions
- Tilt, rotate, and activate 3D terrain and buildings for a different perspective on a location
- Easy creation and sharing of annotations among users

They have two other “subscription” upgrades, Google Earth Plus ($20) and Google Earth Pro ($400) that include a number of extra features. With the “Plus” you can plug in a GPS device, print in high resolution, and generally interact in more ways with the software such as importing stuff into it. I think the “Pro” is for research and industry types.

I haven’t tried it yet, and I’m not sure if I will soon because for one thing the current version is PC only and I’m on a Mac a lot. Also, I think it requires a decent video card, something I’m not sure I have on my PC. So I guess if any of you get to try it out soon, if you could let me know how it goes. I’m not sure if this will affect Scavengeroogle at all; maybe it will just be another way to look for clues if it is using the exact same mapset as googlemaps. I wonder a bit about the resolution, which looks decent, as well as the “tilt” that gives everything more profile instead of the usual straight up and down satellite shot…