Where Exactly Are You Going?

Do you know? You may know the address..but does that really mean all that much? Along with almost everything else in the world of technology, virtual maps are becoming increasingly advanced, with features being added to make search results more specific and easier to navigate. Miguel Heft of The New York Times writes about these state-of-the-art maps and about a man called Richard Hintz, who edited maps to suit his own desires and expectations. Do people these days prefer virtual or physical maps? And are they as helpful in locating as they advertise? One of the main reasons Mr. Hintz edited the maps and pinpointed certain locations was because he felt that the outcome of his search on the virtual maps was either inaccurate or not detailed enough. With the development of Google Maps and Google Earth, which allows users to spot specific locations via satellite and zoom in so close that government officials forced them to blur out license plates on cars and people's faces, is our perception of the world more broad? I personally love Google Earth, and it's incredibly interesting to be able to look at almost any place in the world in such great detail. I think that being able to see real arial views of locations can really help you understand a place better and because the picture is such great quality it feels like you are really there. In class, we talked about Wiki pages and how anyone can edit them; Wikipedia had problems with the amount of people editing certain pages so they enforced a 4-day membership rule to prevent farcical editing. Should people be able to edit virtual maps just as they are able to edit Wiki pages? The problems with public editing of maps is that they can become over edited and some people might not take them seriously. Also there is the factor of legitimacy of the maps after anyone in the world has edited them, does this make them less reliable? Or will people have mixed opinions like they do of Wikipedia's legitimacy? However, with the editing of maps, people can discover so many new places that are unique and special to different people and it could really enhance searching because there would be so much more information about places out there. Check out Google Maps and Google Earth.

Also, I found this video really cool. Before last century, man had never walked on the moon. Now we can virtually place ourselves there. I think it's amazing.