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Google Coolness

by Roger Barnette

During our quiet times, Google has gone public, become the Search Engine king, and pretended to be Micro$oft by buying up many smaller companies.

I won’t patronize, but a short travelogue on some of these features proves them a treasurehouse of a tremendous amounts if nifty information.

Do you need images? Pictures or drawings? Google Image Search is your tool of choice. Go to: http://images.google.com and type “iceberg tip” and then click on the “Search Images” button. What returns from the search are a collection of images from the vast array of websites in the Google index of websites. Pick your favorite and make it your background or save it for your personal use.

Better still is the new Google Local Search. This amazing index records websites relative to their zip code and keywords within each website. Go to: http://local.google.com and try “Bardic computer” in the “What” box and your zip code in the “Where” box and click “Google Search”. If we are within 45 miles of some part of your zip code, then you will find us. If you wanted to get good directions to our address, just click the “Directions” link and it will direct you path. Use it too to find a pizza joint near your hotel as your travel, or your nearest theaters or fast food joints. It is a relatively new database, but due to the extremely high value to individuals and the businesses alike, I would expect this tool to only get better over time.

Central to the Google Local Search results is a map. This is part of a larger system that is more vast than I initially imagined. Click on the “View Larger Map” link to begin exploring this system or go to: http://maps.google.com. If you double-click on the map it will glide to center on your click. If you click + or – symbol the map will zoom in deeper or zoom out further. Within the map system you could put in the address you seek and zoom all the way down and see the very street you were seeking. From a map perspective, this is interesting but not all that useful. Then I noticed the “Satellite” link to the top-right of the screen.

Enter an address and Zoom all the way down then click on “Satellite”. BAM! Now don’t panic! Big Brother is not providing a live video feed on your house. These are images updated once or twice a year when the weather is clear. You almost certainly were not out in your front yard when it was taken.

If you use the Directions button and completed that form, the system will allow you to toggle between the Map and Satellite views to allow you to reconcile the instructions versus the visible landmarks.

If you would like even more clear satellite views, go to one of the companies that Google has purchased recently, Keyhole. Go to: http://www.keyhole.com.

Keyhole has the photos that you have seen turned into fly-by animations on CNN and other news shows. If you find this valuable at all, the annual subscription rate when I looked at it was just under $20 a YEAR!

Perhaps this is all trivia to the average user, but one or two of you, I bet will find it nifty indeed. If you would like assistance with any of this technology, we are available for remote training as well. Contact us for a remote training appointment.