Well, the verdict is in: “it’s the interface stupid”:http://www.kottke.org/05/04/google-maps-and-user-experience! “Google Maps”:http://maps.google.com/, all the latest rage, makes more waves by implementing their recent “Keyhole”:http://www.keyhole.com/ purchase in their unique, “AJAX”:http://www.adaptivepath.com/publications/essays/archives/000385.php driven, user interface that is absolutely wonderful to use. And that’s the whole point: the user experience. Many people have been bringing up questions of “privacy concerns”:http://www.cnn.com/2005/TECH/internet/04/05/google.maps.ap/ and wonderment at the new tool, but the satellite imagery like this has always been available through other sources, but never in such an easy-to-access web-driven interface. The ability to go from abstract maps (that also look great) to satellite images of the same view is proving very popular in the blogosphere.

Given all the brouhaha, though, I am not easily impressed because I realize the above is true, and I see such new web applications as evolutionary rather than revolutionary. Still, here’s me (± 3 houses):

!http://www.sensoryoutput.com/wp-images/postings/googlemaps.jpg!