Conde Nast Building: Where
the "magic" happens
2008 Google

by Tom Loftus

Productivity dipped last week after the latest Google Earth, version 4.3, hit servers and the beleaguered workforce found yet another tool to add to its desktop. Don't have it? Get it now! Check out Google Earth's new ability to swoop through a landscape of three-dimensional buildings. Outdoorsy types should appreciate the sunlight feature that allows them to track the sunrise and sunset from any location (thus identifying those shady spots that still might be too cold in late spring). Over at the technology blog Slashdot, one contributor had fun using this suntracking feature to look at the entire globe at once:  "It really brings home why northern latitudes get longer daylight this time of year."

Of course, the required first stop for most Google Earth users: seeing what their houses looks like. My Brooklyn street still looks like a dump, but at least the 4.3 upgrade includes a rough date of when the satellite photographed my nabe.

More Reading:
* Google Street View Gallery:  A neighborhood block party, a kid wiping out on his bicycle, topless sunbathers...all forever immortalized
* Video:  Google Earth 4.3 demonstrated
* UN uses Google to pinpoint refugee crises 
* Some potholes: A municipal company asks citizens to use Google Earth to indicate trouble spots