Expectations are high

Before my sons and I went for a bike/jog last night, my eldest wanted to map out the route on Google Maps to plan the distance; he's "training" for a run at school next week. He used the satellite view and the distance measurement tool. As he was doing this, my younger son asked if we could see our cat (who wanders outside all day) on the satellite view. I had to explain to him that the pictures being shown were taken over a year ago (average age is about 3 years from what I'm hearing) and that it was not real time. He was slightly disappointed, but understood.

As we got to about the half-way point of our travels, he asked how they took the pictures that were shown on-screen earlier. I explained that they used satellites, airplanes, and then even cars with cameras on top for the closer shots. I could tell that he had been thinking about this for a while.

I'm glad he's interested in this kind of stuff. He may one day be in the position to work on real-time satellite images, or at the very least, is likely to be able to experience it in his lifetime. I know that privacy advocates, et al will cringe reading this, and yes they have valid points, but I still think it would be cool technology!