Keyhole Satellite Photography, Anyone?

[Halo]

Any of you find Keyhole satellite photography useful enough to subscribe to?  $25 to $29 a year subscription.  Google bought it and supposedly will expand it.

I'm trying it out but so far don't see how it would be very useful once a few family and friend addresses are examined.  Coverage seems quite spotty and a lot way from being global or even national.

Resolution supposedly is down to a foot in some places, but I didn't see anything that clear.  And two of three street addresses I checked were off by several houses.  

Curious too that a version for only NVidia graphics card is $25 while another version for all graphics cards is $29 a year.  I'm using the NVidia version but can't recall any other program making a special version for only one brand of card.

Check out the free trial version at Keyhole.com.

[somespam]

Have you checked out "Globeexplorer"? i may have the spelling wrong but it is close.  The site is free and in some areas, i goty pretty clear images (though nowhere near 1 foot).  I was even able to check out areas in Turkey.

[Chairboy]

True, it might not be something that grandma would find too interesting after she's used it to look at her own home and that of immediate family members...  but she's not really the target audience.

I'm thinking of getting a subscription so I can get a good look at what to expect when flying in terms of mountains, landmarks, etc.  I read a report where someone used the 3d navigation mode to practice an approach, then when he flew into the unfamiliar airport for the first time, he knew exactly where he was the whole way through pilotage because he had 'been' there before.

I can also see the use for checking out real estate before buying.  A few times, I've thought about buying land out in the booneys.  It's hard to see where dirt roads or houses are on maps often, but with Keyhole, I imagine I could put in the coordinates and actually see what the area would look like.

[Halo]

Yes, when the whole world is mapped or most the areas we're interested in, Keyhole will be great.  But right now it's a work in progress.  Lots of areas are not covered, e.g., only Fort Wayne in Indiana.  London but not Berlin.  

If most of Granny's family and friends live in the boonies, she has a while to wait before their houses show up in Keyhole.  

One of these days when the whole virtual world shows up for MS Flight Sim, such a deal.  

As it is, my fringe of the Washington, D.C., area does show up in Keyhole and it is fascinating.  Live here all these years and until Keyhole never really had the overall perspective we all should have about our home areas.  

Even then, there is lag from when the photos were taken.  Many area photos are several years old, and many areas change a lot in a year or two.  

Contrary to the Disney theme, It's a Large World After All.

Keyhole is certainly worth a look-see.  Still haven't decided if it's worth $25 a year to me, but can't beat a week's free trial.