You can get the best answer straight from the horse's mouth at the
site,
but to summarize: Google Earth has obtained high resolution photographs
of the entire earth, and combined them with good elevation data. Using
their FREE software, you can zoom in to any place on earth. The photo
resolution varies, but in places like the San Francisco Bay Area you
can tell if you need to clean your gutters!
Yes, a little creepy. But if you already have Google Earth, you might enjoy taking a tour of the Century route.
We have Google Earth tours of the
North Loop and
South Loop routes. Don't worry; these files are small because the
actual images are retrieved online by Google Earth as needed.
If you already have Google Earth, you can download the above North and South Loop .kmz files and take a tour of the Grizzly Peak Century. If you used the standard install, *.kmz is associated with Google Earth, and double clicking the file will launch Google Earth for you (or your browser may launch Google Earth directly). In the "Places" pane (probably in the upper left of your screen), make sure that "GPC Century (North or South) Loop" is selected, and then "Play Tour" (using the arrow button on the "Places" pane or F10).
Google will give it to anyone, but you need a fairly hefty computer to run it. You need a computer made within the last four years or so according to Google. The pictures you are looking at are downloaded on the fly, so you really need a broadband connection (meaning DSL or better; it really smokes on DSL but we're afraid to try dial-up).
You can
, but read the system requirements
to be sure your computer is up to running it.