Google Maps was great when it offered nothing but those gorgeous maps. Then it integrated satellite imagery from Google Earth (which, at that time, was Keyhole). Now Google has mashed the two together with an optional Hybrid view which overlays street names and landmark names (parks and sports arenas, for example, as shown in this screen shot) onto satellit images. Why not? This capability has been available in the Keyhole/Google Earth products for a long time. Concidentally, but perhaps not by accident, this feature was added one business day before Microsoft released its beta launch of MSN Virtual Earth, which provides exactly the same overlay.
1. Now I don't have to toggle back and forth comparing maps to satellite images. This should be very useful.
Posted at 4:42AM on Dec 19th 2005 by Todd Henley