Sunday, May 11, 2008

Virtual World Tour

Well... not in SL, but with Google Earth.

A while back I wondered what it would be like to travel and visit all the places where people who read this blog come from; Google Analytics provides that kind of data. I couldn't possibly do it for real, but I can do it in a minimal sense using Google Earth.

In another window as I type this Google Earth is zoomed in on Wissous, France, where someone visited here for twenty-six minutes (or perhaps came here and then had do something else for twenty-six minutes before deciding to shut the computer off). Google Earth has improved greatly, with markers of places people have pointed out--I happened across a spot marked with knife and fork and the legend "La Grange aux Dîmes". Apparently it's a restaurant built in a 13th century barn... kind of puts Iowa Machine Shed to shame. Such details make it a little more real.

So some weekend I'll sit down with the map overlay, plan my virtual itinerary, and go on a virtual trip, no need to deal with airports, passports, or packing. If you blog, you might want to try it too... Bon voyage virtuel!

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