Playing around with Google Maps?

Today is the day that the insurance runs out on my car, so I made it out to the tracks in the vehicle one last time, and "studied" while awaiting some trains in the overly hot weather.

One idea that came to mind during that time was the possiblity of doing something with Google Maps. They have fairly close-in satellite views from around my house (a coal train running past Ryan's workplace in the shot that they've got), but unfortunately this doesn't extend into the canyon.

Assuming that they've got most of the Fraser Valley covered, using the Google Maps API one might be able to throw together a nice site with a list of railfanning spots for the Fraser Valley. I know that people can use the API and add in their own location markers, so something like this might work rather well.

Comments

I still have my canyon maps. Doing something with the API would be much nicer than the original "photoshop a pushpin on an enormous map" method, and only one map would be needed for the entire planet.

The problem with that idea is that the resolution of images from the canyon is relatively low. As an example, take a look at Spences Bridge. There is some satellite imagery, but the map for that area shows only the roads ... it doesn't include either the tracks or even bodies of water.