Google Earth gives you a bird's-eye view © HKCA

The internet company Google, famous for its internet search engine, recently launched a new application called Google Earth - a 3-D mapping tool and earth simulation program that integrates maps and satellite imagery with Google search capabilities.

I'm sure, like me, those of you who have already found Google Earth will have been amazed at this breath-taking software. Whilst the satellite images are not 'real-time', nor terribly current for that matter (images are approximately 1-2 years old), the amount of detail that can be seen is remarkable.

Hong Kong gets plenty of detailed coverage in Google Earth, so I recently spent time to capture images of all the cricket grounds in the HKSAR. Whilst I have chosen to capture these images from an altitude of approximately 400 metres, using the application you can zoom down to heights of less than 100 metres, although the images tend to lose their detail from that altitude. Still, in the images of Hong Kong Cricket Club and the Kowloon Cricket Club, you can see many details including the shadows of players on the field.

The following are the satellite images of all Hong Kong cricket grounds:

• Hong Kong Cricket Club
• Kowloon Cricket Club
• Mission Road Ground
• Po Kong Village Road Ground
• Sandy Bay Ground
• Police Training College Ground

To see more, visit the Google Earth website at http://earth.google.com where you can download the free software to your computer. Versions of the software are available for both Windows and Mac computers - check the system requirements before attempting to download.