Google Earth map - Winter Home

This is the Google Earth view of 5151 Collins Ave #1626, Miami Beach FL 33140, currently on the market for sale as a foreclosure.

The map includes schools, hospitals, golf courses, parks, fire departments, restaurants and locations of registered sex offenders (the rounded markers).

LEGEND FOR SEX OFFENDERS:
Pink - current location of a school or park (Google Earth views can be couple of years old)
Blue - home location of offender, against children
Green - listed as "other" offense

Visit Family Watchdog for more information.

Google Earth map - Summer Home

This is the Google Earth view of 28 Beach Rd S, Wilmington NC 28411, currently on the market for sale.

The map includes schools, hospitals, fire departments, restaurants and locations of registered sex offenders (the rounded markers). The nearest golf courses and parks are just outside of the area covered in this map.

LEGEND FOR SEX OFFENDERS:
Pink - current location of a school or park (Google Earth views can be couple of years old)
Blue - home location of offender, against children
Yellow - rape
Green - listed as "other" offense
Red - sexual battery


Visit Family Watchdog for more information.

Google Earth map - Dream Home

This is the Google Earth view of 4909 Wynneford Way, Raleigh NC 27614, currently on the market for sale. 

The map includes schools, hospitals, golf courses, parks, restaurants and locations of registered sex offenders (the rounded markers).  The nearest fire departments are just outside of the area covered in this map.

LEGEND FOR SEX OFFENDERS:
Pink - current location of a school or park (Google Earth views can be couple of years old)
Blue - home location of offender, against children
Light Blue - work location of offender, against children
Green - listed as "other" offense

Visit Family Watchdog for more information.

Week 8 Google Earth tour

This is my tour of "US landmarks" - just a few stops in San Francisco, Chicago and Philadelphia.




.

Geospatial Tracking Technology - Fact and Fiction

     In the science fiction series “The Night’s Dawn trilogy” by Peter F. Hamilton, the population of earth has spread itself over several hundred star systems, yet Earth itself remains the strongest and most populous human-inhabited planet. Every country has achieved a Western-style level of consumerism; there are no more “third world” countries. In an attempt to extend police protection to the entire citizenry, the government of this future world has sensors and cameras in every single public location, electronic usage in literally every building is watched for possible network problems, and all personal communications over the net are monitored. Data is transmitted in real-time, but not everybody has the ability to access these sensors. The ability to “look into someone’s backyard” is given to only a select few, but everybody on the planet knows the sensors are there, and they accept them as the price they must pay for maintaining their standard of living.
     This fanciful vision of the future may not be as far-fetched as some might think. With Google Earth, the ability to see literally everywhere on the planet via satellite has brought Hamilton’s imagined technology well within grasp. Web-based geospatial software has enabled everyone to access images via satellite with a level of clarity from planet-wide vistas down to less than a foot in diameter. Satellite images are nothing new; the first weather satellite in orbit was in 1959. The quality of the images has increased dramatically since then, and now everyone can view images of the Earth from their home computer. While the images are not provided in real time (many are a couple of years old), the abilities of Google Earth are staggering.
     Analysts can track the flow of traffic in an urban area, including ground, sea and air transport. For environmentalists and enthusiasts, long-term imaging can highlight areas of the planet in desperate need of ecological help (such as time-lapse photography showing rivers/lakes/icecaps shrinking in size). For architects and city planners, buildings can be created in a three-dimensional universe alongside already existing buildings. However, despite all these wondrous new tools that are available, many feel the cost to an individual’s privacy is too high. For example, the ability to locate a single person has upset many in that while the service may assist law enforcement in apprehending criminals, and businesses can send a message to regular customers that are near the store, the movements of the individual are now available to the masses. To add to this is the issue of how much of this personal information (their habits, what areas they frequent, etc.) is available to the public at large, and for how long will this information be held. Bruce Arnold writes: “This issue is not specifically about individual privacy as much as 'aggregate' or 'collective' privacy - what information it is appropriate to hold on the consumption habits and lifestyles of postcode-size populations.”
     The level of public information on individuals may be acceptable to some but not for others, and there lies the major dilemma. Personally, I cannot help but think we truly are heading in the direction of Hamilton’s perpetually-monitored society. It may be reminiscent of “Big Brother” in George Orwell’s novel “1984”, but Hamilton’s world exists without all the repression. There are too many individuals on the planet to accept overt spying, but covert surveillance is another matter when it is cloaked under the guise of “for your protection.” The vast majority of Hamilton’s Earth is blissfully unaware of just how little privacy they really have, but since the politics of the day prevent the true rulers from revealing the extent of their practices, the population is happy not knowing. What is originally a work of fiction appears to becoming more of a reality with each passing day.


Source:
Bruce Arnold, Caslon analytics privacy guide: http://www.caslon.com.au/privacyguide19.htm

Etc:
For a comprehensive look at the Night’s Dawn trilogy: http://www.lucasdigital.plus.com/nightsdawn/

Peter F. Hamilton’s website: http://www.peterfhamilton.co.uk/

Three-dimensional views of downtown Philadelphia

Three-dimensional view of the Atlantic Building (skyscraper on the left) with Market Street running underneath. The intersection in the lower right hand side is Market Street and 17th St.

This is a three-dimensional view of JFK Blvd and 16th St (with Love Park in upper right corner).

Satellite weather view

Showing the Southern half of the United States, the Gulf of Mexico and Cuba.