The map jones never stays quiet for long, though my habit is really just an incidental one. In late March, I wrote something in passing about Google Maps and what I liked about them. Since then, Google has combined its maps with the database of aerial and satellite photographs I think it acquired when it bought a company called Keyhole. Now you can specify any location in the United States — maybe the world, but I haven’t tried that — and in addition to the traditional map, you can also see an aerial image that matches the maps frame precisely.
So one of my first impulses is to look up places I lived growing up — like 196 Monee Road, in Park Forest, where we lived from 1958 through 1966 (the house had great heating ducts for storing beer, but my brothers have to relate that story).
Here’s a map that shows 196 Monee Road (unfortunately, I can’t figure out how to display the Google map on this page — if indeed that’s possible for a mere Web mortal such as myself).
Here’s the corresponding aerial image.
And here’s an aerial that shows how to get from 196 Monee Road to the next house we lived in, on Oak Hill Drive, a mile away.