Live Maps: almost unbelievable

I've had a lot of experience house hunting, and before that, my parents had a lot of experience that I observed. You used to look at maps and do a lot of intelligent guessing and wondering about what the neighborhood was like, and of course you'd have to look at your perspective house in person.

Bird's Eye view on www.livemaps.com (other sites have it, too) is changing that. You can type in the address of a house you're considering, click bird's eye, and you're looking at an UNBELIEVABLY close up satallite photo of your future home.

And that's not all. Hit a few more keys, and you can spin the house around. Does it have a patio? Well, let's check that. Fully fenced? Just look and see. Is there a sidewalk all the way to school? Pan out and have a look. Mystery solved.

Case in point, I have not seen the house that my husband and I have recently bought in Beavercreek, OH. This is not driving me crazy, though, because I've studied it on bird's eye view from every angle, I've studied scores of digital photos of the inside of the house, I've scrutinized housing descriptions and inspection reports until I have it memorized. Heck, I have been there to see it.

Anyway, even if you aren't searching for a house, I bet you and your children will enjoy Live Maps. Look up your house, and then look up the Great Wall of China, Niagra Falls, the Space Needle in downtown Seattle, the Washington Monument....you get the idea. It's pretty addictive.

And it still feels pretty unbelievable.