There. I've said it. It's been a long time wince I thought that much about Google. I recall the day at work when I suggested to others that they should try this new search engine instead of Web Crawler. Then Google was evil. Then Google bought everything.

What I like about this photo feature on the mapping is that it appears to be a half-way house to Google Earth and its eventual 3D presentation of everything that is happening everywhere now. I don't need that much information. The graphical representation of reality is far more useful than actual reality. But this feature is an enhancement that enriches a map more than seeks to be information itself. So if you go to a town I am familiar with like Ithaca NY, you will see a number of snap shots. You get more and more snaps the more you drill down and just today is the first time I see there are videos, too. I presume they are uploaded consensually and I also presume there is some sort of image understanding filtering going on as I am not seeing images with people in them. Just landscapes and landmarks.

This may just be early days with pleasant people uploading sunny scenes. Soon the world on Google maps may look more like a Tuesday afternoon in February during a slush storm or like stills from Grand Theft Auto XII. But for now it makes most places look like places you want to visit.