* #16 Explore any site from the Web 2.0 awards list, play with it and write a blog post about your findings

Google Earth

To begin with Google Earth one must know that they do have to download a good portion of the program for free.
What Google Earth does that is unique, and mind blowing is that you start with the globe. You use the controls to zoom in. You can zoom in virtual anywjere on earth. For emample I entererd my home address . The POV zoomed from outer space right down to the point where it showed my house. I could see the car in the driveway and the rhododendron bushes. You can move in any direction and see the neighbors house. You can longitude and latitude to get to specfic points.
It has many of the feature of Google Maps. You can get driving directions. With google earth you enter your start point anf inal destination. You can have Google Earth play a video of what your drive will looklike from many angles including a bird's eyeview. On certain major roads you can click an adress abd see a 360 view photograph of wheree you are. This is handy as it shows the buidlings to the right and left to you so you see where you are going before you get there.
You can literally stick a pin in the map and save it as a point. For Example: My House, MY High School, Gramma's house. There are already so many of these saved points that you can look at fascinating points from around the globe. Just for fun I found the following places just to have a look: Fenway Park, the Gaza Strip, the Garden of Gethsemane, and Quebec. There are so many features to google ewarth that I have not had the time to fully explore it.

And id that was not amazing enough there is google Mars,


I think people in the library can use Google Earth for a variety of reasons. Travel planning appears to be themost appropriate. One can literally see their trip before they go. They can familairize themselves with not only street names but images. Googl Earth has great potential for students studying geography. There are features on Googl Earth that can show street names, famous places, political boundries and so much more.