It's on the Map

I finally got round to trying out the new Google Maps beta, another new service from Google, despite everyone else going on about it for weeks.

As we've come to expect from the Googlers, it's slick. Not only can you have a street map, you can switch to satellite imagery, God knows why, I can't think of a good use, but it's fun. I've played about with satellite image services before and they've always been slow, even street map services are usually slow, but not this one. Scrolling left and right, up and down and zooming in and out is fast. Very fast.

The only let down is that, currently, it only covers the continental US (and lower parts of Canada).

Something occurred to me which apparently hasn't occurred to the vast number of other commentators. If the satellite view service takes off, for whatever reason, I bet you see a lot more companies having adverts painted on their roofs. Could be a boom business, buy your shares early to avoid the rush, and don't forget where you got the tip.

Update (19/04/05): Now launched for the UK, only without the satellite views unfortunately.