[Ger-Poland-Volhynia] GOOGLE Earth and GOOGLE Maps

[Jerry Frank]

Have many of you tried to use satelite images of your ancestral regions using either of the subject sites?

GOOGLE Earth can be accessed by going to http://earth.google.com/ .  It requires that you download some software which is free, safe, and easy to use.  Don't expect it to find your East European location for you.  You will need some experience with the roads and towns in the vicinity to find a specific location.  

The images for Volhynia are not particularly detailed but you should be able to find most villages if you know the general area to look.  The same is true for much of Russian Poland though you will find detail for some of the cities and surrounding areas such as Warsaw and Bydgoszc and a few (I don't know why) select rural areas such as east of Lublin and north of Lowicz.  The detailed areas allow you to see houses and vehicles.   

GOOGLE Earth is NOT available for Macintosh computers.  It also requires minimum 128 kbps broadband Internet connection.  And you will need a 3D graphics card (details of requirements can be accessed from the referenced web page).

GOOGLE Maps http://maps.google.com/  does not require software but only includes mapping service for North America and parts of Western Europe.  In other areas it provides satalite images similar to GOOGLE Earth but place names do not pop up as you zoom in.  Those place names that come up with GOOGLE Earth are useful for orienting yourself to find a specific location, especially when you are looking in unfamiliar territory.   

Have fun.

Jerry Frank