Google Earth your Villas!

sherban · Post by **sherban** » Sat Nov 17, 2007 8:55 am

Hello All- Please consider using Google Earth to locate your villas and share villa locations with others. If you are not aware of Google Earth take some time to download, install and check it out. I use the free version of Google Earth and it does all I need...zoom into look at Islands, beaches, Villas, roads, view photos from travelers around the world, and you can also save "placemarks" to show others where things are...this is a great tool for virtual exploration and information sharing...give it a try! And I promise I have no financial interest in Google, no stock or anything...I just love the tool.

Feel free to PM me with questions, you probably do need a high speed internet connection for this tool to be fun...

Cheers-

sherban · Post by **sherban** » Sat Nov 17, 2007 11:29 am

Catharinrberg Villa example screenshot attached:

Included in my photobucket album mare some pretty cool space station and government aerials of the VI...
http://s240.photobucket.com/albums/ff71/sherb/

Maryanne · Post by **Maryanne** » Sat Nov 17, 2007 1:16 pm

hey that's a great idea.
i'm renting Cinnamon Stones in a few weeks. I wonder which one it is..

sherban · Post by **sherban** » Sat Nov 17, 2007 3:35 pm

I haven't figured out where Cinnamon Stones is yet, sometimes it takes a local expert to help out...one other challenge can be that the aerial photos can be a few years old and thus not include recent construction...

Maryanne · Post by **Maryanne** » Sat Nov 17, 2007 4:15 pm

i know it has been around for a decade at least...

someone on the board explained to me where it was, about a year ago, but i forget..

i don't think she posts anymore.. her avatar was a little girl with giant sunglasses...

Steve S · Post by **Steve S** » Sat Nov 17, 2007 5:45 pm

Has anyone figured out a way to share placemarks electronically? The photos are cool, but if the forum could assemble an interactive database that would be valuable...

Kentuckygirl · Post by **Kentuckygirl** » Sat Nov 17, 2007 6:22 pm

I have marked villas on "my" google earth, but I haven't made it public. I'm not sure I know how, but I think it is a great idea. I will try.

sherban · Post by **sherban** » Sat Nov 17, 2007 7:16 pm

Yes it is do-able, I'd be glad to collaborate with some folks to do some "tests". I exported my placemarks to a file that I emailed to my work and then I had them on my Google at work. I also saw a person had built a file with pushpin placemarks for ALL the Villas on Sint Maarten...the technology is there...feel free to PM me if you want to try some sharing...Thanks.

Jo Ann - VA · Post by **Jo Ann - VA** » Sat Nov 17, 2007 9:02 pm

2 Cat Limit - are you looking at this? I know you have done something similiar. You are a great source of info on villas and villa locations.

Are you there?????

Jo Ann

sherban · Post by **sherban** » Sat Nov 17, 2007 11:03 pm

One way to do this is to share groups of places out of your Google Earth "my places" folders. You can export groups of places or post them on the internet via google. This is really very easy...I'm surprised owners/realtors/posters aren't doing it yet. The places can be grouped by whatever you choose like island, neighborhood, etc...

MrB · Post by **MrB** » Sun Nov 18, 2007 1:41 pm

sherban wrote:I'm surprised owners/realtors/posters aren't doing it yet.

I would imagine that they do not use Google Earth for STJ villas because up until a few months ago, 3/4 of the island was a giant blur. They recently updated the pics, but now, huge clouds are over Choc Hole villas like La Paypaya, Allesandra, and Bongo Bongo... Contant Point, and Fish Bay are also whiteouts.

There are other images available. Trail Bandit has a good unobstructed sat image...the url is searchable in this forum. Also, someone posted a link a few months back that link 5 diffrent sat image sites in one page. I don;t remember that poster, but I'm sure you can search it.

sherban · Post by **sherban** » Sun Nov 18, 2007 3:18 pm

MrB- Maybe you're right about the blur (Google is always updating to higher resoltion source photos as time goes on), but Google is the only place I know where it is easy to share multiple layers of information, such as placemarks, hi-res photos, text posts, video links, etc., etc. The capability in Google Earth for sharing Global information is really impressive once you understand it, yesterday I downloaded placemarks from somebody I never met and they immediately allowed me to find "The Indians", Lindqvist Beach", etc...totally cool to click a link from someone and have your browser zoom into that exact location for you, then view photos of that place which were uploaded by someone on another continent...truly technology working for ME!
Thanks also for the tip about the other sat image post.
Cheers-

minnjim · Post by **minnjim** » Mon Nov 19, 2007 10:17 am

We're staying at oleander in March and I was able to find it on Google earth. Unfortunately, there was cloud right over the villa. It's fun to explore the whole island by satellite.

jmq · Post by **jmq** » Mon Nov 19, 2007 10:22 am

There is also this multi-map link I posted a month or so ago.

http://www.flashearth.com/?lat=18.34615 ... =0&src=msl

sherban · Post by **sherban** » Mon Nov 19, 2007 6:21 pm

Minnjim- I agree the virtual exploration is really fun...of course only when followed by the real thing. I knew Aruba inside and out before we ever got there last year...the age of info is here...

jmq- Cool tool, I hadn't seen this one yet...I love new toys thanks. (BTW your quote from Bruce took me back to about 1979 in a flash..vinyl spinnning in my memory...thanks)

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