Google Earth is truly a marvel as an exploration tool (and Superman-flight-simulator), but it has also caused some controversy regarding privacy rights: just how much surveillance should be at everyone’s fingertips? This will be an ongoing conversation, of course, but I think what would truly change the game is if Google Earth enabled you to see everything going on in real time. And it doesn’t: this most recent overhead shot of my apartment block (see here) is more than three years old. I know that because the progress on the decades-in-the-making Second Avenue subway line is much further along than what I see here (thank god!). So in that sense Google Earth is literally the world’s largest still photograph of the planet, which makes it much more of a map resource than a spy tool. The key to keeping it relevant will lie in constantly updating it.
I like it when newscasters report on something going on in a place that I’m not geographically familiar with. The camera usually starts out in a wide angle, high above the outline of a country or state, and then starts to descend, picking up speed, and zoom—you’re there, and have gotten specifically oriented to where the activity is in less than three seconds.
But what Google Earth does best, and quite beautifully, is lend perspective. Look at how small we are, how close we are to our neighbors, how intricately our surroundings are structured. This, of course, is more pronounced in highly populated areas. What are the implications?
First impression: I better understand my environment when I can look at it from a new angle.