Speaking of wondrous geography, at the behest of Patrick, I have been having a bit of a go at the latest toy from those crazy boffins in the Google Labs, Google Earth. I can't say I've thought of a practical use for it, but it's quite a lot of fun !
It's pretty mind blowing – most people I've spoken to already find Google Maps funky enough (for example, not only can you readily find my house, but with a slight amendment to the query you can also get my 10 closest pubs!).
Google Earth goes one better – you get a map of the entire world that you can zoom into, scroll around, pan and tilt, put markers on, and use overlaying layers to see what's where. They seem to have more detail on someplaces than others, but I was still well impressed with what it had !
Just for laughs, I was able to pinpoint the locations of all the houses I lived in in Adelaide.
(No easy feat, considering how legendarily bad my sense of direction is !!)
As well as that, it was kind of neat to be able to see The Falafel House from space.
Pat and I had a bit of a hard time finding Uluru – not that you're easily going to be able to miss a thing that size… but after scrolling around hunting for it we both realised just how big and empty Australia actually is. Pat remarked that if Burke & Wills had had access to Google Earth, they wouldn't have needed to lug that boat around with them (for use in Australia's inland sea).
I've no idea how much data GE shifts around, however I'm quite sure you'd need a broadband connection in order to use it without noticing too much lag on the image updates. One thing that was kinda funny was that there only appears to be detailed Adelaide photography as far north as Grand Junction Road. Almost supports Big Dave's theory.
But enough of that. I'm off to see if I can pinpoint the location of the Little Creatures Brewery !