Location, location, location

The photos have been taken from a fleet of cars, mounted with spherical cameras and these images have then been placed in 'image orbs' within Google's maps.

When viewing Google Street View, these 'image orbs' can be navigated using either the arrow keys on the keyboard or by using a mouse to click on arrows displayed on the screen.

The photos can be viewed in different sizes, from any direction, and from a variety of angles, while there are even lines that are displayed along the street to indicate the direction followed by a street view camera car.

Street View is part of the Google Maps program pre-installed on the Android compatible T-Mobile G1 and in November 2008, Street View was added to the Maps application installed on Apple's iPhone as well.

But the application has raised privacy concerns as well. In some of the images, it has been widely reported how one man has been photographed picking his nose at a street corner, a couple were caught sunbathing in bikinis and another man is captured entering an adult book store.

Other images have shown a group of protesters carrying signs outside an abortion clinic in Miami and men leaving a strip club. One of the ways in which Google sought to protect peoples' privacy was by blurring certain peoples' faces, which started in the middle of 2008.

So why would one want to geotag? Well, sometimes it is useful especially when one needs to remember where a particular photo has been taken. It is also useful in conjunction with photo sharing sites such as Picasa, where others can see where exactly you've been.

Geotagging can also be a good way of organising your photos as opposed to using tags and it can let others discover new parts of the world or it can let others see parts of the world in a different light.

Geotagging also allows users the ability to locate information according to geographical proximity, but, most of all, it just provides a different way of viewing your photos. Geotagging does also take time and effort and if you're happy with just viewing your photos as is; stay clear of geotagging for now.

Around the world

Apart from Google Earth, there are a wide range of online mapping tools out there.

WikiMapia (http://wikimapia.org/) - Wikipedia has been a successful online encyclopedia venture storing much of the world's information. With WikiMapia the online encyclopedia service adds the concept of Wikipedia to Google Maps making it possible for users to add notes about any place on earth.

You can tag a location and provide data for that spot in one of the 64 supported languages. You can then add that link to a Wikipedia page. WikiMapia now has more than 1.5 million places marked, with new ones being added constantly.

Yahoo! Maps (http://maps.yahoo.com/) - Do you hate asking for directions? Then you need to take a look a Yahoo! Maps, which is one of the richest applications when it comes to driving instructions and directions.

Driving directions can be printed with the print-friendly interface. Additionally, you can enter your phone number and have the directions you need sent directly to your mobile phone.

Microsoft Virtual Earth (http://www.microsoft.com/virtualearth/) -  The Virtual Earth platform offers the same rich, robust, customisable imagery available on mobile devices and on the desktop.

There is also the Enhanced functionality, including the new Virtual Earth Web Services API, which offers mobile-optimised static map images, direct map tile access, one-box search functionality, geocoding, reverse geocoding, and routing.

OpenStreetMap (http://www.openstreetmap.org/) - OpenStreetMap is a free editable map of the whole world that is made by ordinary web users. OpenStreetMap allows you to view, edit and use geographical data in a collaborative way from anywhere on Earth.

The maps are created using data from portable GPS devices, aerial photography and other free sources. Both rendered images and the vector dataset are available for download under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 2.0 licence.

Map my run (http://www.mapmyrun.com) - If you need to spice up your running regime and find new running tracks, then this map service is ideal. You can plot your running routes according to the amount of elevation, the topography, and particular streets with just a few mouse clicks. Once your running map is complete you can quickly view it in 3D, satellite maps, or share it with friends.

Worldmapper (http://www.worldmapper.org/)  - This online service shows the world in maps as you've never seen it before, with the maps indicating certain information, such as population, internet users, land mass and so on. The maps of the land mass expands and contracts according to the relevant information.

Google Mars (http://www.google.com/mars/) - As if the Earth wasn't enough, Google has gone ahead and starting mapping other planets in our solar system as well, such as Mars.

The map features color-coded elevation data from a shaded-relief map taken by the Mars Orbiter Laser Altimeter (MOLA) on NASA's Mars Global Surveyor spacecraft.

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