OK, so on the surface this may seem really lame and not all that exciting. But if you take into account all of the time and energy it took…no, that does not really jive either. Why is a collection of map pictures so darn fascinating?

As you’ve probably heard, Google Maps has integrated satellite pictures into their Google Maps Web site. Do a Google Maps search and then click on the “Satellite” link in the upper right corner. You can’t always get a picture; sometimes you get an error that says, “We’re sorry, but we don’t have imagery at this zoom level for this region.”

Anyway, lots of people are looking at these pictures, and a blog at http://www.shreddies.org/gmaps/ has been devoted to capturing interesting/unusual/pretty sat pics from Google Maps. Current entries here include The Gateway Arch, Mt. Rushmore, the Uffington White Horse (neat!) and Niagra Falls. [Get the links]