28 June 2005

Google Earth, part 2

Initial comments on the (beta) software:

  • Clunky interface, like a first-generation cross-platform UI
  • Tools to the left of the screen are crowded and never seem to be the right size. I'm constantly resizing one or the other.
  • Intermittent failed refresh of layers. Sometimes street names or other features will disappear if you fly to a new location.
  • The features included in the layers tool--restaurants, ATMs, MARTA stations--will become a first-stop for many people. Lasoo had this around four years ago [SearchEngineWatch], and its demise hit me almost as much as that of WebVan's ... almost. Some of this is available in much more laborious interfaces at Yellow Pages Web sites, but the effort to use those is just too great.
  • Oh why does it have to be a binary client? They bend space and time and make the most elegant map client out there, and then they shove it in this ugly UI. I understand they're in their own embrace and extend [Wikipedia] period now (Blogger, Picasa, etc.), but I'm getting spoiled by all that the Web can (and should) do. I'm on three different computers a day. It'd be nice not to have to install stuff on all of them. I'm not sure where I first heard the phrase "universal client" for Web browser, but it's a good model to use.
[ posted by sstrader on 28 June 2005 at 11:07:44 PM in Science & Technology ]