I'm a web developer and a mom with 4 kids at home. I also enjoy reading (SF/F and historical fiction mainly), singing (especially filk music), and, on occasion, writing.
Oh, and travel. I love traveling. I grew up in a family that traveled every chance we got. I want to travel all the time. I also have 4 kids, a full-time job, and a husband who does not enjoy exploring new places and getting lost as much as I do.
See the problem here? I do get to indulge myself once in a while, but nowhere near enough to satisfy my wanderlust.
Enter Google Maps Street View. Want to know what it's like standing inside the Roman Coliseum or Stonehenge? Well, there you go. These two top tourist attractions are the exception, rather than the rule, in that you can actually use Street View to go inside and look around, but any seasoned traveler knows that the real joy in visiting a new city comes from walking the streets and exploring the lesser-known places, and that's where Stre... (You know what? I'm just going to call it SV from now on.) That's where SV excels, at least in those places where it's available, and they're adding new locations all the time. They're even adding a portion of the Great Coral Reef later this year.
Is SV as good as being there? Hell, no! For one thing, in most cases the camera is mounted on a pole on top of a vehicle being driven around, so it gives you a good idea of what everything would like if you were 7 or 8 feet tall. For another, it works so well once you get used to it that when you bump into one of the limitations (like not being able to walk right up to the Palace at Versailles), it's a bit disconcerting, not to mention disappointing. And, of course, you don't get movement, sound or smells. So no, it's not like being there at all.
Still, it's better than a sharp stick in the eye, as my husband likes to say. It goes a long way toward satisfying my urge to explore - and now we get to the reason for this blog.
When I'm exploring, I'll often come across an interesting building or structure and want to know more about it. With SV, I can indulge my curiosity almost immediately. (Google's working on ways to do that in real life, but I'm not holding my breath for augmented-reality glasses under the tree this year.) I've stumbled upon some places with what I consider to be fascinating histories. With the help of Wikipedia and a myriad other websites, I'm able to learn far more about a place than any tour guide could tell me.
I've started this blog as a place to share screencaps and information about some of the interesting spots I find - usually by accident. I'll also post some tips and tricks I've learned to improve the SV experience. I hope there are others out there as geeky as I am about this sort of thing.
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