The New "Coolest Thing Ever"

For anyone researching a book, the days of spending weeks in foreign ports of call, "getting a sense" of the world are really not that necessary.

A nice slice of The Interim was researched with Google Earth. However, I was able to merely fortify places that I had seen, first-hand, such as Memphis and Indianapolis.

Now, Google Maps Street View is here. Have you seen this?

About a dozen U.S. cities are on "Street View", including much of Minneapolis and Saint Paul. It is unbelievable the detail you can swing yourself through. Now, as I am going through my third novel, Royal's Demons, I can take full advantage of accuracy for my scenes in New York City, Boston, Dallas-Ft. Worth, Los Angeles, San Francisco-Oakland, Chicago and Detroit.

Of course, I could just spend hours and hours looking up places I've already visited. Ah, The Great Timewaster of 2008! Hear ye, hear ye.