by Jason Salas, KUAM News Sunday, June 18, 2006 Subscribe to Jason's newsfeed   E-mail this article Printable version KUAM Toolbar Web Widgets Get RSS headlines

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Without doubt, my favorite freeware application for research, entertainment, or just plain goofing off over the last year has been Google Earth. The popular mapping software program just got a lot more valuable for local residents, as coverage for Guam, Palau and the CNMI was recently added to the freeware application's global mapping satellite imagery. With the explosion in online mapping applications over the last year, many online users flocked to see if the Western Pacific was included in the covered areas.

Most of us admittedly weren't too surprised when we learned that Guam and its neighboring islands weren't in the map, but we yearned for the day when we could navigate and geocode locations and positions that were a little more familiar to us.

Well, that day has come. Finally.

You can now navigate to areas throughout the region, thanks to updated satellite imagery that goes beyond just pixilated glyphs of what we here in the islands call home. You can easily now move throughout Micronesia and see places like the Japan-Palau Friendship Bridge in Palau, the touristy streets of Garapan in Saipan...or all 32.8 square miles of Rota. More locally, there are fantastically accurate shots of the Calvo Memorial Raceway Park in Yigo, Pleasure Island in Tumon, Paseo Stadium, Umatac Bay, and Government House in Agana Heights. (Of personal disdain is that the famous KUAM Studios in Harmon are unfortunately not at the moment visible, thanks to some pretty thick clouds.)

To help get you started, KUAM's also got a fun promotion for those of you adding more fun not a part of Google Earth's core 11.2MB download by creating animated fly-over tours of the island. Be as creative as you like - from a maps to local celebrity homes, to a tour of the island's schools, to a collection of the coolest places to eat, shop and hang out. Get in touch with me and have your best work ready and we'll feature it on the air and online as a special download for others to check out. Users will be able to vote on who's representing Guam best in cyberspace.

So head on over to http://earth.google.com, download the program, set aside a few hours of playtime, and enjoy a new way to experience the world!