How good is Google Earth?

When Google Earth first came out I was gobsmacked (I was also awestruck but awesome is such an overused word) but heck it is an awesome program - and it's free! People use it all the time now when planning hikes and paddles, two guys paddled the length of the Orange River and collaged together the whole river from Google Earth printouts to help them plan.

Then came Google Street View and people tried to get themselves into these shots or if they were lucky/unlucky were in them anyway. Here's the street view of our jetty where regulars will recognise the blurs that are the card guard and vendors who work there.

Now I imagine few people can say they that they are visible in Google Earth but I am! - well anyway I recognise the smudge that is me but nobody else would! Below is the wide shot of the jetty and yacht club and further below are the blow-ups of the marked rectangles.

The yellow circles highlight two of the white double kayaks we take day trippers on, seen in the top picture, and in the red circle is me leading the group back.

But the point here is not to boast and this post is really all about this last picture.

Behind the kayak you can see some circles which is movement from the paddle strokes in the water! Now that I think is awesome!! And that the use of all these exclamation marks is fully justified!