So, I was answering the Trapped in 1991 post and decided to try something...

Check out this link and tell me what you think it is:

http://maps.google.com/maps?q=1122+W.+Cerm...07607&t=k&hl=en

If your answer is "A satellite image of the site of the Cermak Blast" you're correct!

(You'll need to look just south of the marker)

In particular Seattle is in a pretty good footprint with some great resolution (you can see inside the Seattle dome), so this is a great tool for setting up some runs.

If you guys have already seen this, my apologies, but maps.google.com is just too cool.

That is damn cool. I've never even seen map.google.com before.

Nor have I. Thanks for pointing it out.

Yeah, I figure if I ever get back to GMing Shadowrun, for certain runs I'm just going to give my players the address, and let them go to town with the satellite imagery.

Obviously a lot will change in 60 years, but, you can still pick out a place that looks like what you want and just say that's the location.

Ah... ready made satellite imagery. And they have to do a Matrix run to get it!

Its probably old hat by now, but Nasa released a program called "World wind." While it isn't as close-range as other satellite programs may be, it is a world-covering thing. I can see my house, the school and park down the block from me (including the pool in the park that I work at over the fast-approaching summer) and even, if I want, the pyramids.

I can even look at the mountain I ski at and find the trails I go down. No little people, though. But cars, I do believe, are visible!

Hey! There's my house!

Real conversation:
Me: "Where'd you say your character was opening his bar?"
Player: "Right around that point at the south tip of Belleview. Just next to an off ramp."
Me: (Pulling out a print-out) "This building or this one?"

This calls for a really big

DDDOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOODDDDDDDDDDD!!!!!!

Thats not just cool, its ice cold.

London: There are no images for this level of detail zoom

NOOOoo

damn cool though, first person to find area 51 wins