Sights You Can See with Aerial and Satellite Maps
Man-made Landmarks and MonumentsOne of the most interesting places to see aerial map images of is the city of Ashgabat in Turkmenistan. The entire area is replete with monuments built by the now-dead ex-dictator of Turkmenistan, Saparmurat Niyazov. Giant palaces and extravagant gardens with statues of the late dictator fill the map, and from an aerial view you can get a feel for the beautiful symmetry and design of the buildings.
You can check out all the wonders of man-made engineering from various different aerial and satellite pictures available from online digital maps like Google Earth. The sheer size of the Great Wall of China, for example, is clear when you look at it from the point of view of an orbiting satellite and realize just how much of the globe the Wall actually covers. You donò€™t get that sort of scope from ground level pictures.
Natural Landmarks
Natural landmarks are always fun to see from an aerial vantage point. The hugeness of the Rio Grandeò€™s canyon is never more apparent than when you see it from the point of view of a passing survey plane, and the multi-colored hot springs of Yellowstone provide some of the most intriguing compositions. Ò
Google Street View
The great thing about digital aerial maps is their potential for interactivity, which is still being explored and developed. Google, thus far, is leading the way with one of the most popular map applications today: Google Mapò€™s street view, which if youò€™ve ever used Google Maps you probably already know about. You just pick any city you want, zoom in, drag the street view icon to whatever part of the map you want and then youò€™re free to wander through the virtualized streets of said city. The shots you see on Googleò€™s street view mode are taken by vehicle-mounted video cameras that work every day to update the images fairly regularly. Some of the shots you can find on street view mode are candidly surprising. Thereò€™s everything from people falling into their car trunks to horrible-looking freeway accidents that everyone somehow walked away unscathed from.
To learn more about aerial and elevation maps or elevation data please visit http://www.intermap.com.