Have you ever tried AcmeMapper 2.0? It uses google earth imagery, but also
offers terrain worldwide and topo in the US, all of which can be easily
toggeled while retaining scale, a super simple one button solution. You don't
even need to download the program to your computer, it just opens up and
there it is!
I have found the terrain feature to be a very useful tool for envisioning
large landforms, but as you zoom in you will see that the information is
often wrong, place names incorrect, rivers that are not in their river
valleys, etc, so just don't get hung up on the details.
For example, I am planning a trip to Laos so the first thing I did was to
look at the satellite image of the northern half of the country to see which
parts are dark green (the whole country is dark green in contrast with all
its overpopulated neighbors!) Then I toggled to terrain to discover that
the entire northern half of the country is completely covered in mountains,
there isn't a single flat spot other than narrow river valleys and an odd
place called the Plain of Jars. None of that told me where the karst was so
I zoomed in a bit and immediately noticed textural differences such as a
cluster of tall irregular mountains that emerged from the surrounding
landscape and was bisected by the Nam Ou river. I zoomed in to discover
spectacular karst peaks on either side of a stunning gorge. I zoomed in
further to
see a tiny riverside village named Muang Ngoi Neua. I googled it up to
discover that this tiny village which is far from any road, electricity, or
central authority is hippie/backpacker/caver heaven! The few people who live
there know it is a beautiful place so aside from subsistence rice farming the
entire local economy is devoted to hedonism and taking people such as me to
caves, springs and hilltribe villages. Without the terrain feature on Acme
Mapper I would never have know about this wonderful place!
Sleaze
