Digging Google Earth

I've played with Google Earth before now, but I'm digging it once again. I'm working on a piece about France's Savoie, and I wanted to get a sense of the area. No problem. Type in Chignin, France and you can see the village, the local lakes, and even the vineyards.

But then I discovered the tilt slider. Adjust one way or the other, and Google Earth creates a 3D view of the terrain. It's one thing to see there are mountains in the Savoie. Quite another to see how tall and steep the mountains are. The tool isn't a perfect view: I can't see Mont Blanc off in the distance. But, still it's way cool.

Lots of folks have written about Google Earth, and in particular the community aspects, where the internet's population tags items visible in Google Earth (including jets caught midflight and other ephemera). So I'm late to the game. But still, if you haven't pulled it down yet, take a look when you have some hours to kill.