One of my first serious uses of GE was to examine data from a recent backpacking trip. The backpacking trip was up Mount Wrightson, Arizona and I took my GPS along for the hike. I saved the track and waypoints from the GPS and imported them into GE. Then I superimposed a USGS topgraphical map of the area for further reference. I also added some photos taken during the trip (which I georeferenced using the GPS track and time stamps from the camera).
The result 
is a GE KMZ file which you can view which really illustrates the backpacking trip. Especially if you use the tilt function (I recommend using your middle mouse button if you have one) to see the rugged terrain of this 4000 foot ascent. You also get an idea just how fabulous the view is from this peak.
By the way, if you turn on “Borders” in GE you can see that the border of Arizona and Mexico is easily viewed from the peak.
Earth at Night
Here’s a nice little addition to your My Places which shows what the earth looks like from space at night.
Astronomers see this picture as light pollution ruining our views of the heavens. Environmentalists see this as wasted energy. I have to agree with both. It wouldn’t take very much for us to start creating better lighting systems that light the ground, not the sky. But, still, this picture is pretty!
Clouds of the Earth
One thing missing when you see the earth upon opening GE is the lack of any clouds. This link will open a KML file which downloads the latest view from space of clouds for the entire earth. The satellite photo is usually only minutes old, so the coulds are pretty close to real-time. The image file is about 450K, but those of you who use Google Earth probably have the bandwidth.
I keep this “Global Cloud Map” in My Places for a quick look at what kind of weather is out there.
[EDIT: 9/26/05 – This link stopped working, so I’ve found a new improved Global Cloud map which you can find here]
Flying – Keeping a Flight Log
As a pilot I have used GPS for navigation in my plane since 1998 (starting with a Garmin GPS195). During the last year, I discovered you can use tools to document your flight by saving your GPS flight log to your computer. One tool I found particularly nice is called GPS Visualizer (at www.gpsvisualizer.com). The picture at the right (click the picture to see larger) is an example of a flight I made shown in GPSVisualizer. The color of the track represents altitude.
I’ve shared GPSVisualizer’s capabilities with other pilots (oh, it’s also good for all kinds of other GPS activities by the way), but after seeing Google Earth I immediately wanted to try my flight tracks in it as well.
Controlling Google Earth Pan/Tilt
When I first show people Google Earth, I do the classic zooming down to find someone’s house. Or turn on a layer like Banks/ATMs to show how the data can be useful.
But, the real shocker about Google Earth is when you show them the “Tilt” feature and that this is a 3D model of the world! Any mountainous area will do, but let’s try Mount St. Helens which is a particular good view. After going there, find the up/down slider on the right side of the navigation area of Google Earth (when you put your mouse over it will say “Adjust Tilt”) and try it out.
IMPORTANT TIP: the best way to take control of your 3D viewing of Google Earth is to use the middle mouse button. Click and hold the middle button and watch how you can pan and tilt around any view. Another tip is to hold down the SHIFT key while doing this and making circular motions to pan at a fixed tilt.