Free Geography Tools

A fun hack to waste your time with on Labor Day Weekend: Google Earth has a hidden built-in flight simulator, accessible by hitting Ctrl-Alt-A in Windows, Command-Option-A (capital A) in Macintosh. While it’s been possible to use controllers to get a similar effect in the past, this is the real deal: keyboard controls (click here for a list), joystick support if you have one, a heads-up display, choice of two airplanes and multiple runways to take off from:

Here’s me taking off from Heathrow in the jet:

This is one application where the faster download speed of Google Earth Plus would come in handy.

Not exactly a “geography tool”, but what the heck. Via TechCrunch.

Addendum: The keyboard controls are a bit touchy, to put it mildly. But if you click in the flight window and change the cursor to a crosshair, you can use the mouse for flight controls: Forward is down, back is up, and left and right for turning. Once you get the hang of it, it’s a lot easier to control with the mouse than the keyboard.