Using Google Earth and Microsoft Bing Maps to help locate interesting photography spots
Using tools like Google Earth and Microsoft Bing Maps to help locate and discover new and interesting terrain can both save you time and money.
I discovered how great these tools can be for finding photography locations over the past year as I watched the price of gas continue to rise. One thing you may run into if your entire budget is based on gum and string is that it doesn’t take too much of an increase of expenses to adversely affect your ability to produce new content.
I drive around in an old truck to reach many of the spots I find and, it doesn’t get very good mileage. When the price of a gallon of fuel reached close to four bucks I began looking for alternatives to being on the road all the time. After banging around on the web, looking at forums, trail guide websites and various terrain tools I decided on a handful that seemed to do a decent job of replacing being on the road all the time.
Confirming rumors and speculation
The name of the game with this technique is to cut down on how much time you spend following up on hunches and, rumors you may have picked up about new spots. A great example would be when I was on the hunt for a secluded spring on a nearby mountain. I’d heard about this place from a guy whose property I was shooting on.
I went home and opened up both of these mapping tools and poured over them for about two days trying to discover where this supposed spring could be. What I learned was a possible location, how to enter the property and, how far I might need to walk. By doing this I saved days I would have spent driving back and forth walking the woods.
My electronic road trip guide
I won’t spend much time on how I complete research on finding a new location. Suffice to say it involves a lot word-of-mouth, forum hunting and trail guide reading.
So, lets say you’ve found an amazing new spot you want to check out. It could be right down the street or, thirty miles away. These tools can help you go about using your digital road touring to help focus in on exactly where the spot might be, how to approach and perhaps where to park.
This process can help you in possibly two ways one, time and, the other cost. If you’re an armchair warrior who has the money but, lack the time this can be a great way of spending your evening. If you, like me have a little more free time but, stay broke most of it this can save you some money.
A few things I use in addition to online tools.
Georgia Off the Beaten Path, 9th: A Guide to Unique Places (Off the Beaten Path Series)
1. Distinguish unusual terrain
I start my process by opening up Google Earth. It’s a great tool for panning and tilting to get a better understanding of the land. Its street view also helps see where I might park or, where I may run into access problems if my spot is on private land.
I start off with Google Earth because its interface seeks faster and, I can easily bookmark locations. What it lacks though is the high-resolution detail that Microsoft Bing Maps has to offer. So, I usually switch over to it after getting a rough idea on where to search.
Things you want to observe with Earth are rock formations, streams and rivers and the way tree lines and shadows form. For example, if you wanted to find a waterfall you could pick a stream or river and begin to follow it. You would look for rock formations, obvious terrain dips or, use the shift in shadow and tree line to determine a terrain change.
If the spot you’re looking for is near the roadside you can drop down to street-view and see what kind of obstructions you could encounter or where to park. This has really come in handy for me if I’m going to an obscure park or, a small neighborhood location and I need to be sure I have somewhere to leave the truck.
2. Focusing in on where to shoot
After you’ve roughed in the location switch over to Microsoft Bing Maps to get a higher-resolution view of your shooting spot. I usually copy the coordinates out of Earth and put them in Maps to go right to the new spot.
The great thing about Bing Maps is the detail I can get with its “Birds Eye View” feature. This is a great little tool that helps me decide if the blobs and shadows in Earth really amount to much. You can zoom down to this view and rotate the camera around in four directions to see whats what.
You do want to switch the view at all angles. The angle of rotation can sometimes help reveal things that are obscured by trees and shadows. I’ve used this little trick to find a set of small shoals in a nearby river. If I hadn’t rotated the view all I would have ever seen is a clump of shadows.
Conclusion
I’ve found this series of tools and techniques to save me a ton of time and money over the past year. If you like me lack time and, or money this process could help you out too.
Steps for using Google Earth and Bing Maps
1. Look for obvious terrain changes. Rivers, tree lines and ridge lines.
2. Change the time of day im Google Earth to enhance shadows to locate more terrain changes.
3. Use "Street View" to find good parking places or obstructions to access to a location.
4. Follow rivers and streams to locate water features. Then use Bing Maps "Birds Eye View" to get a higher resolution image to see more detail.
