Earth - Another Killer App from Google

Google have done it again! With Google Earth they are giving away yet another free internet application. Earth lets you fly around the planet's surface looking at textured satelite photographs from any point on the globe. You can see city streets, find the house where you live, the places you visited on holidays, your favorite camping site, anything! In the USA it is combined with database of local businesses and other features. Admitedly certain areas are mapped in more detail than others, and the quality and age of the photographs vary enormously from country to country. Having said that, Earth provides the best online map of Ireland I've seen so far. Having used maps.yahoo.com my expectations were quite low.

Here's an example of one view of Dun Laoghaire, in the Earth application you can zoom in to see the street names, etc. The satelite photo isn't very high res (Dublin city is much better), but you get the idea.

The only down side - you really, really need broadband to be able to use this application!