Android Apps: Google Earth & Google Sky

Google, what can you say about one of the most successful Internet companies around except, keep  up the good work!

But seriously, there are two apps from Google that never cease to amaze me, Google Earth and Google Sky. We'll start off with the most controversial of the two;

Google Earth:

When you first open the app, it takes a minute or so to load depending on your connection speed and phone capabilities, but when it's done you'll see a distant composite image of the our big beautiful blue planet, and you're thinking, ok, what now? Hello, you have a touch screen phone don't you? Touch it, spin it, spread your fingers on the screen and watch planet Earth zoom in and refocus. Amazing!

This is where the controversy starts though, the zoom in capabilities of Google Earth can be a little disconcerting at best, down right "Big Brother-ish" at worst. Would you like to see what's in your backyard from space? You can! At first you think, hey look, it's a picture of my house from space! Then you think about it a little more and it turns into, HOLY CRAP, THERE"S A PICTURE OF MY HOUSE FROM SPACE! That old "invasion of privacy" thing rears it's ugly head. I'm not real sure I want a picture of my backyard from space. Not that I have anything worth hiding in my backyard, or front yard for that matter, it's the principle, it's mine and if I don't want you to see it I should have that right. It's not like it's a real-time image or anything like that, these are composites taken from satellite images and from that weird looking truck Google uses to run up and down every street and take 360º photos of everything it drives past. Yes, it's been here. Those images can be a bit revealing at times, and for some, embarrassing too. Burglaries have been caught on camera, girls flashing, hookers working notorious street corners, drug deals, fires, even a planned marriage proposal was caught on camera, the list is long and odd. I can't show you most of the images here because, well it just wouldn't be right, but you can certainly look them up yourself at, you guessed it, Google Images.

On the really cool side of this app, it's simply remarkable at all the places you can and should zoom in to. Off the top of my head; Statue of Liberty, Grand Canyon, Washington DC (don't look at that one too long though, you might get some politician ick on you), the Eiffel Tower, the Coliseum in Rome, Volcanoes, Antarctica, Area 51 (yes, it's there!), once you start looking at our world it's hard to stop.

Controversial yes, amazing, also a yes.

Google Sky:

Far less controversial is Google Sky, mainly because you're not looking into anyone's backyard, except for maybe God's, but I don't think he minds us looking. Have you ever looked up at the night sky and wondered;  Is that a star or a planet? I can see a pattern but I wonder which constellation that is. What direction am I facing? All those questions and many more will be answered by Google Sky. This amazing GPS (Global Positioning Satellite) based program knows where you are and where the stars are in relation to you at any given time or position on planet Earth.

As I write this, Venus is just above the western horizon, can't see it because it's daylight, but it's there. You can zoom in and out for better clarity and fixing your own position. If the night sky holds your interest at all, this is a must-have app for you.

Android Market