Has anyone else here played with Google Earth?

63DH8 · Dec 23, 2005

http://earth.google.com/

I've been looking for some land to buy where I can tear up motherearth with my tractor. When I find it on-line, I check it out with the Google Earth program to save unnecessary trips out of area. Good thing too! Once place that was 100 acres for $80,000 was on the side of a cliff! At the moment, I'm checking out 162 acres that's part of a irrigation circle.

DUMBDOG · Dec 23, 2005

Pretty neat site. Can find my crops that I planted last year, although it is hard to tell the onions from the carrots. The corn sure stands out. /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

tawilson · Dec 23, 2005

Yes, definitley cool. I dragged myself from here to NYC the other day. There was a show on one of the Fox news channels about it this week, people are concerned it might be giving terrorists too much information. Originally, the government wouldn't let them show the roof of the White House for security reasons, but eventually changed their mind. Oh oh, I used terrorist, White House and government in the same post. I hope I don't get flagged by some government software program.

scott_vt · Dec 23, 2005

Mornin Al,
I have tried it, and it is impressive, but I dont think you get very good resolution unless you purchase the pro package. I have used microsoft terraserver and you get much better resolution but the satellite pictures are old /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif If thats not an issue, then maybe that would work if your just looking at raw land. IMHO /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

scotty

Phils · Dec 23, 2005

There's a "PRO" GoogleEarth?!? The freebie is so good I hadn't even looked farther. Has anybody here bought the "pro" version? How much better is it?

Phil

mathey · Dec 23, 2005

I just installed a free 7 day version of pro...at least in my area, the resolution is no better, but you can zoom in to see the blurry image closer.

johan3400 · Dec 23, 2005

Google earth is nice, but have you tried the NRCS Websoil survey. It shows decent resolution with about a 2 year old shot. I just googled NRCS Web soil survey. It shows my farm quite well.

tawilson · Dec 23, 2005

The show I watched on Fox said the resolution varies from area to area, depending on who took the pictures.

jmc · Dec 23, 2005

We fish near the dog leg on the Manitoba/Ontario border. 22Hr. drive to an end of the road mining town, then 140 miles further north in a float plane. You don't see anyone else except maybe a Native American and you feel like you're at the edge of the world. What a disapointment to find a picture of that lake on Google Earth, in the comfort of my living room. But at least I can also see the water you can't get to by boat.