“Google has hugely expanded the areas of the world that it covers with satellite imagery. Egypt, Iraq, mainland Europe and the UK have all now got satellite coverage to a lesser or greater degree.” Slashdot directs people to sights like Buckingham Palace or the Arc de Triomphe, and notes that Iraq seems to have a large number of high-zoom areas, including the Baghdad Parade Grounds where Saddam used to take the salute and other towns like Fallujah.
Well, sort of. Try zooming in on that link for Fallujah, and all you get are blurred squares. You can zoom in on the other places for a better look, though. Check it out for yourself. We just hovered over Rome, and saw a nice shot of the Coliseum (you’ll have to zoom in). Looks like the places available for close-ups are those identified by brown splotches when you’re hovering over from a greater distance out. See a brown splotch, and then zoom in…
We just tripped over the Imperial Palace, in Tokyo. Pretty cool. (Here’s a map with text so you can see where you are on the Google satellite map).
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