Virtual Geographers

The Los Angeles Times has an interesting front page article this morning about the web sites that are dedicated to exploring and posting interesting tidbits found online at Google Maps, Google Earth and Microsoft’s Live Search Maps.  The article profiles Jason Lee and Jon Coogan who run the web site Bird’s Eye Tourist and chronicle many of the images they find in their virtual journeys.

Google Earth is packed with things that its creators never intended. Paper maps are a cartographer’s rendering of the world, whereas digital versions in Google Earth, Google Maps and Microsoft’s Live Search Maps are more like sophisticated collages — moments captured by cameras on satellites and airplanes, seamlessly blended to create a digital world.

Bird’s Eye Tourist isn’t the only web site dedicated to scouring satellite imagery for thrills.  With the tagline “Why bother seeing the earth for real?“, Google Sightseeing is another such service.  This blog has even put out a book called “Off the Map: The Most Amazing Sights on Earth as Seen by Satellite”.