I see Paris, I see France ...

One of my favorite things on the Internet these days is the plethora of new mapping services that incorporate satellite images. In the Seattle area, we have this awesome real-estate listing service called RedFin.com, with which you can view very detailed satellite photos of houses that are for sale, have been sold in the last six months, as well as posted photos of the property. It also pulls up publically available real estate information from the county, such as sales records over the past decade.

Amazon.com recently launched a new mapping service that uses street-level photos. Basically, what they did was mount cameras on a van and take photos of all the streets in all major U.S. cities. I could describe more, but the best thing to do is take a look for yourself. (That's the intersection of E Pine and Broadway in Seattle. Go just a few feet north by double-clicking on that area of the map and you'll see the statue of Jimi Hendrix on your righthand side.)

I hope you guys know about Google Maps; I use it all the time for directions. Google bought the satellite imaging company Keyhole, which they now use for Google Earth. It's pretty comparable with Microsoft's MSN Virtual Earth.

Anyway, now that you are all wowed, here's something to scare you: input your name into this search engine. Oooo ... scary!