Tuesday, July 12, 2005

What Would We Do Without Google?

Is it just me or is almost every new and wonderful innovation found on the internet being done by Google (or being bought out by Google)? First their search algorithms are some of the best out there. Gmail is one of the best webmail services. Google Maps are head and shoulders above Mapquest or Yahoo Maps (both of which I will never use again as each has given me bogus directions at least once). Google Earth has the potential to be an amazing tool for exploring the world from your desktop. Google's Desktop search is freakishly good. I can't really think of a project that they've undertaken that hasn't been cool.

Now with the opening of some of their API's, the ability for people to make custom tools using Google's robust projects has been blown wide open and I've recently stumbled upon one such tool that I think is pretty neat--Google Maps Transparencies. What this site does is takes Google's road maps and superimposes them on top of the satellite image of the area. This way you can see the lay of the land as well as the roads that run through the area. It might not be any more useful than straight up Google Maps, but it sure is neat. I look forward to seeing what other tools people can come up with.

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