Google Earth ( ), pictured in Figure 11-2, is the desktop sibling of Google Maps.

If your phone is supported, you'll be able to install it over the air. To download Google Maps for your phone or PDA, visit from your phone's web browser. This includes directions, and, for some cities in the United States, the display of real-time traffic data to help you avoid traffic jams. Google Maps is also available for mobile phones. In some areas, more buttons are available. At the top you can see three buttons: Map, Satellite, and Terrain view.

Google also allows you to grab Google Maps as a programmable widget for your own blog or home page-this is the Google Maps API in action, which has spawned a great many 'maps mashups' online. With a feature called My Maps, you can add your own markers, directions, or areas to Google Maps, and edit your own text for the marker's info box. Special layers-so-called KML (Keyhole Markup Language) files-can be displayed on top of Google Maps to add third-party information. The search box on top is flexible enough so that you can search for both specific cities or countries as well as names of businesses, restaurants, and more. Google combines such things as location names, satellite or terrain info, panorama photos from street level with data such as user reviews for restaurants, directions, and-for the United States-real-time traffic information. You can travel to almost any spot on earth, zoom in, and see what it's like there (without all the extra expenses like flight tickets). Google Maps ( ) is a virtual world map, as shown in Figure 11-1. at least when we use online mapping services like Google's. And we don't have problems folding maps any more, either. This visual disclaimer can be roughly translated to, 'Looking for territory information in that spot? Why, no one wants to go there that place houses dangerous beasts!' Today, most of those dragons are gone, at least when it comes to this little planet. In old maps-drawn on paper-illustrations of dragons were used in all those areas that were yet undiscovered. DIVE INTO GOOGLE MAPS, GOOGLE EARTH, AND SKETCHUP 3D

Keyhole earth viewer