Flyovers

Like most of the world I’m guessing, I’m a fan of Google Maps and use it all the time to locate places and look around. Streetview was helpful in getting the picture from yesterday’s post of the train overpass and the sign on it.

Google Maps let me down this morning. I read about this fascinating place called Eden in Elgin County.

I like Elgin County. I did a lot of work there and have some favourite places – Port Stanley, St. Thomas, Talbotville (for the peanuts) to name a few. One of our favourite dog walking marinas (Port Glasgow) is available by tipping a toe into Elgin County.

But, Google Maps had no idea there was an Eden in Elgin. I was about to drop my search but figured I’d give another mapping service a shot and went over to Bing Maps. I had a collosal error once when I went looking for my former employer’s new school Legacy Oak Trail in Lasalle. Even though it had the address correct, it mapped it in Utah.

This time, however, Bing Maps saved my bacon. It located Eden south of Highway 3 near Tillsonburg. Once I knew where it was, I went back to Google Maps and Streetview to see what that road would look like today. Now, amazingly, Google Maps now knows where Eden is!

When I was poking around in Bing Maps, I noticed a popup on the screen called 3D Flyover. I’d never heard of it. Did someone flyover Eden? No, but they did London which was on the left side of the screen, in view. That was neat exploring some of the places captured and presented.

There were so many familiar places – St. Peter’s Cathedral Basilica, Victoria Park, Labatt Park, Storybook Gardens, and much more. How cool was that?

Did they fly over my back yard. I had to check. No, they hadn’t.

So, I kicked the tires and it appears that they were choosy about Ontario locations to include. I found:

• London
• Hamilton
• St. Catharines
• Niagara Falls (mostly the US side but a great shot of the Horseshoe Falls – a nice reminder of the ECOO Conference Cyndie Jacobs and I chaired)
• Toronto (of course)
• Ottawa
• and that seems to be about it for Ontario but lots when I headed west to Winnipeg and beyond (yes, I did explore further)
• Lots of places world-wide, Detroit, London, Zurich, no Monaco, …

It was a neat experience. Yes, they still haven’t got Legacy Oak Trail right. But, boy oh boy, is this experience wonderful!