Google the Earth

I love google earth.   I was just on it today, after my run, I decided to see how far I had gone.   Well one thing led to another, when I clicked on my grandparent's place-marked location in Eritrea.   Then I realized that I could also figure out how far I had run when I last visited.   When, needless to say, I wish I had it back then.   Not only did it work well (and a whole lot better than the mapping I have on Flickr to place the pictures) I managed to find the exact locations ( i.e. the trees, buildings and such that pinpoint to exactly where I had run to), but I found out some interesting things.   For instance this picture of a stream --which I though was rather odd that it managed not to dry up despite the hot weather and lack of rain ---  was not a simple stream but part a large lake that I couldn't see at all.   Using this picture, you can see trees to either side of the road.   On the left is the stream (I took the picture for the road you see) and on the right past the trees and the edge of the picture is the large body of water.   The interesting part was that despite the fact I had run there a lot I never had a clue it was there.   It also helped me to confirm that the distances I was estimate back then were fairly accurate (within a 0.5 km range... which is pretty good considering I would go on runs from 8 to 25 km).   You can also see it in the video that I posted on Youtube.

The other thing that I really like (though I haven't had much chance to check out) is the Sky... earth???... application.   You press this one button and ... BANG!   You are looking at the sky of that particular location at that time.   Real nice.  

If you haven't had a chance to check it out, do so.  It's great.   And no, no one is paying me.

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ሰላም  ዮሃንስ