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Celebrating our two-lane highways of yesteryear…And the joys of driving them today!

Google Earth Blows My Mind


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My head just exploded!

 

Brian Butko used a Google Earth street view to identify a site along the Lincoln Highway in Nevada that I thought was gone (based on my review of satellite imagery only). I knew that Google Earth did street views in cities, but I didn’t know they had done them in very very rural areas. The imagery is fantastic, unbelievable!

 

And they also have “back issues” of aerial imagery so you can spot changes over time.

 

It serves me right for not upgrading when invited....but you guys should have told me sooner! :o

 

I just can’t keep up…..but now I have to take a virtual ride to an area I know nothing about in the southeast to see if I want to drive there this spring. Brian, thanks for the info, and bless Google Earth! This is sweet!! :D

 

Dave

 

Keep the Show on the Road!

 

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My head just exploded!

 

Brian Butko used a Google Earth street view to identify a site along the Lincoln Highway in Nevada that I thought was gone (based on my review of satellite imagery only). I knew that Google Earth did street views in cities, but I didn’t know they had done them in very very rural areas. The imagery is fantastic, unbelievable!

 

And they also have “back issues” of aerial imagery so you can spot changes over time.

 

It serves me right for not upgrading when invited....but you guys should have told me sooner! :o

 

I just can’t keep up…..but now I have to take a virtual ride to an area I know nothing about in the southeast to see if I want to drive there this spring. Brian, thanks for the info, and bless Google Earth! This is sweet!! :D

 

Dave

 

Keep the Show on the Road!

 

I just took a drive through tiny Appalachicola, Florida and along the Gulf Coast. What's next, sound, smell and touch?!!

 

Dave

 

Keep the Show on the Road

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I just took a drive through tiny Appalachicola, Florida and along the Gulf Coast. What's next, sound, smell and touch?!!

 

Dave

 

Keep the Show on the Road

 

 

I'm with ya! I love Google Earth, Google Maps, Street View, etc. Very cool stuff. For street view, I prefer it in Google Maps, rather than the way it works with Google Earth, but it's cool either way.

 

Pat and I saw the Google people as they drove through our neighborhood...they went around our court, and Pat saw it and shouted to me that Google was here. I thought he was nuts, but he wanted to prove to me that it was them. So we hopped in the car and chased them down. They drove by and we got "caught" on Google Street view 3 or 4 times!

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My exploding head moment came in December in Florida. I was on an old brick road that was covered with deepening sand. OK for pickup trucks and SUVs but not much else. I looked desperately for a place to turn around, saw a small grassy clearing which did the job, and scurried out of there. I reviewed things on Google Maps that night and discovered a surface level photo of the actual life saving turn around spot in the Florida back country taken from the sand covered road. :o

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I just took a drive through tiny Appalachicola, Florida and along the Gulf Coast. What's next, sound, smell and touch?!!

 

Dave

 

Keep the Show on the Road

Here's another one:

http://maps.live.com/

Zoom in to the place you want, whether on road or aerial view.

At some point, if you're near a city, the Birds Eye tab becomes active. Click it and you'll be maybe 1/3 mile up looking down at an angle — and most places can be viewed from 4 directions.

Not responsible for head injuries!

Edited by bbutko
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Jennifer, et all

 

Like you, I have been a Google Earth fan for years, and I enjoyed the story you and Pat told about getting in multiple shots…..fast thinking. But as much as I loved it, it wasn’t very useful in getting a “feel” for the roads I haven’t traveled.

 

Sure, I could tell if there was water, desert, lots of buildings, vegetation, or the like, but what was it like if I didn’t have wings. Sure, I had buzzed around cities at street level (neat!), but I avoid cities when I can. What knocked me over last night was to discover I could drive some rural two lane road in Kansas or North Carolina or Mississippi at street level.

 

As you know, I like the roads less traveled, and now I can scout out a trip in ways I never could before. Let me give a small example. Last night I “drove” from south of Coffeeville, Mississippi, through the town of Coffeeville, and on to Waterville, all on rural roads. And I now know that Coffeeville has a main street worth visiting, because I saw not its roofs, but its stores and buildings, just as if I were walking down the street. The quality was better than if I had taken a video, and I could turn around 360 degrees.

 

I read about the Google camera set up some time ago, but I never imagined they would drive through the Appalachian back roads, along Kansas dirt roads, or through bergs like Coffeeville…..no insult intended but Coffeeville, Mississippi (I have a friend there) is a certified berg….I love it! I drove a few roads in North Carolina and in Tennessee last night, and I can see that Sheila and I would enjoy the countryside and little towns I saw. They were absolutely lovely, and mostly “unspoiled.” Then I drove down the Keys and looked at some places Denny and Dave visited. Wow!

 

This All America coverage just blows me away, and that is hard to do for a guy as old and heavy (I prefer “robust”) as I am! I have no idea how Google decided to photo map some of the places they did. Take a look at some of the “blue roads” in Kansas….but I love it.

 

The more I think about it, Google is making America available “on demand” for all of us. Gees, I love those guys!

 

Dave

 

Keep the Show on the Road!

 

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  • 4 weeks later...
Jennifer, et all

 

Like you, I have been a Google Earth fan for years, and I enjoyed the story you and Pat told about getting in multiple shots…..fast thinking. But as much as I loved it, it wasn’t very useful in getting a “feel” for the roads I haven’t traveled.

 

Sure, I could tell if there was water, desert, lots of buildings, vegetation, or the like, but what was it like if I didn’t have wings. Sure, I had buzzed around cities at street level (neat!), but I avoid cities when I can. What knocked me over last night was to discover I could drive some rural two lane road in Kansas or North Carolina or Mississippi at street level.

 

As you know, I like the roads less traveled, and now I can scout out a trip in ways I never could before. Let me give a small example. Last night I “drove” from south of Coffeeville, Mississippi, through the town of Coffeeville, and on to Waterville, all on rural roads. And I now know that Coffeeville has a main street worth visiting, because I saw not its roofs, but its stores and buildings, just as if I were walking down the street. The quality was better than if I had taken a video, and I could turn around 360 degrees.

 

I read about the Google camera set up some time ago, but I never imagined they would drive through the Appalachian back roads, along Kansas dirt roads, or through bergs like Coffeeville…..no insult intended but Coffeeville, Mississippi (I have a friend there) is a certified berg….I love it! I drove a few roads in North Carolina and in Tennessee last night, and I can see that Sheila and I would enjoy the countryside and little towns I saw. They were absolutely lovely, and mostly “unspoiled.” Then I drove down the Keys and looked at some places Denny and Dave visited. Wow!

 

This All America coverage just blows me away, and that is hard to do for a guy as old and heavy (I prefer “robust”) as I am! I have no idea how Google decided to photo map some of the places they did. Take a look at some of the “blue roads” in Kansas….but I love it.

 

The more I think about it, Google is making America available “on demand” for all of us. Gees, I love those guys!

 

Dave

 

Keep the Show on the Road!

Dave,

Do not take my silence for apathy, I have had trouble posting on a friend's laptop with IE. I had to stealthily download Firefox just to post! Yes, the street view has given us tremendous power to explore, but I fear it may pacify some of the curiosity to explore. Or not.

I took some photos of the tunnel on US 99 and got home and there was a better view on Google! Such is life. Google couldn't get the shots of Beale's Cut that I have so I will put them on the proper thread.

Glad to be back!

 

~ Suey

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A fun thing you can do with the StreetView, especially on old roads, is find some old pictures of that area and do a "Then & Now" perspective without even being there! It's for the lazy tourist/historian like myself.

 

2o-300x235.jpg 2g-300x198.jpg

 

On the left is a 1926 image of Steven's Pass on US 2. On the left is the Google StreetViews image of the same location. The angle is a bit off, but that's the price we pay.

 

Fun! More of these are on my blog here.

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Suey,

 

Welcome back! I forgot or didn’t realize you were on a So Cal “junket.” I wondered about your “silence.” I’ll look forward to the Beales Cut photo(s)!

 

Eric,

 

Very interesting then and now use!

 

Here is a 1920 strip map of Stevens Pass for your planned trip. (Note the tunnel.) Also, you need to read the history of Monte Cristo (see map) if you like old mines.

 

ARStevens1920.jpg

 

Dave

 

Keep the Show on the Road!

 

 

 

 

 

 

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