The Smarmy Carny

World Wind vs. Google Maps

Back in January, I heard some buzz about Google purchasing high-tech maps from a company called Keyhole. Keyhole has offered these maps for a while to companies for a fee. My concern was that these maps would be available at Google for a fee. It turns out that Google, the giant that it is, offers these maps for free at Google Maps! Huzzah!

I have long been a fan of Mapquest, using that mapping system for six years or more. Recently, I have been familiarizing myself with Google Maps. I'm impressed with the "clean" feel of the maps. Even snarled road systems (which usually look pretty messy on most online mapping systems) are easy on the eyes with Google Maps.

In January, I posted about NASA's World Wind program that is similar in nature. I think that Google Maps has World Wind beat out in all of the areas that Google Maps competes in. While looking at satellite images is fun, it's even more useful when you're using them for directions, especially considering that the Google Maps images are six months to a year old, whereas the World Wind pictures are well over five years old in most areas. Still, I'm not about to uninstall World Wind from my computer because there are features there that Google Maps doesn't offer (and probably never will).

This entry was posted on Tuesday, April 5th, 2005 at 18:07 by Novac and is filed under All, Technology.   You can leave a response or trackback from your own site.

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