Who uses Google Earth?
By Ki Mae Heussner
I’m having blog envy.
Prompted by an AP Internet writer’s review of Google Earth, Lifehacker posted a reader poll this morning to find out how many people actually use the application, and already more than 3,000 readers have responded.
If only the survey (and poll) we posted last week could attract that kind of attention…
But despite the pinch of jealousy I felt upon seeing the numbers of votes, I was grateful for the info. Since hearing about Google Earth from my techie friends and family members (and especially since downloading it and testing the tool myself), I’ve wondered who among us really use GE. I’ve heard lots of people praise the technology as the latest marvel from those geniuses at Google, but I’ve heard very few talk about how they use the application in their day-to-day lives.
While Lifehacker’s poll shows that a significant majority (66 percent) of the respondents have done little more with Google Earth than “ooh” and “ah” at it before returning to Google Maps, it also reveals that a loyal contingent (23 percent) use the tool regularly for personal and professional use. Nine percent of the respondents identified themselves as KML file-toting Google Earth enthusiasts and 2 percent confessed that they’d never heard of Google Earth.
Pushing aside the green-eyed monster that re-appeared when I noted that the entry had been viewed nearly 12,000 times, I skimmed over the reader comments to find out just who these GE loyalists are.
If you’re a fan of Google Earth, it looks like you’re in good company. Here are a few of your compatriots:
- a graphics designer for a billboard company (who also thought it was cool to see the big yachts in the Monaco harbor)
- a hang glider who takes GPS tracks and lays them onto Google Earth to review, replay and share flights
- a tennis player who uses GE to scope out local courts and parking lots
- an entrepreneur with a site that monitors the locations of speed traps
- teachers of archeology and earth sciences, real estate prospectors, photographers
- runners, hikers, travelers
- parents
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1 Comment
1. LOJOCONNECT.COM&hellip replies at 12th June 2008 um 8:37 pm :
[…] than using Google Maps. Users must download software and figure out how to use the program. A previous LoJo blog post about who really uses Google Earth included a Lifehacker poll that found the majority of people […]
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