Where Am I? Find Out Now

If you would like to see where I am right now as I post this on my blog, beginning with a view of the Earth from outer space and then narrowing to my location at Moritz College of Law (OSU), please follow these instructions. Trust me on this one, it’s worth it just to see how it works. Unfortunately you will have to download a program, but it’s from Google and shouldn’t cause any problems.

1. Go to earth.google.com.
2. Click on “Get Google Earth (free version).”
3. Download the program onto your computer.
4. Install and open the Google Earth program.
5. You will see a satellite image of the Earth.
6. At the top left corner, enter: 55 West 12th Avenue, Columbus, Ohio.
7. As the building appears in your viewpoint, you will see on your left "Mirror Lake," which is a very pleasant spot on the OSU campus with a sign that says "Don't Feed the Ducks" but gives insufficient notice.
8. The building right below the address on the satellite screen is Moritz College of Law, on the Ohio State University campus. You can identify it by an extension that juts out of the north-west corner.
9. Put your cursor (hand) on the building and click a few times. It will provide a closer view.
10. When I myself did this, the screen showed three red cars in the parking lot. My library study carrel is not far from an aisle that leads to a window overlooking the parking lot. I walked over to a window on the west-side of the building, and those red cars were still there.
11. If you click on Moritz College a couple more times, you will see a white rectangle on the top left corner, and under it a dark line separating white from a mixture of green and purple.
12. At the moment I am posting this (5 pm) I am in the middle and to the right of that dark line, in my library study carrel.

Update: I've done the same thing at 9 pm in the evening, and I see the same picture I saw earlier. So obviously that can't possibly mean it's a live view. Yet those red cars were there, so either it was just a coincidence that there were three red cars in similar spots, or the satellite photo was taken at a certain time of the day and saved. In any case, it's still an incredible program for seeing your actual location by satellite.

More Updates:

• If you've downloaded the program, try entering in one address (i.e. where you are now) and then a second address (i.e. where you were born). The way it responds is very impressive.
• Google has also included some particular attractions (the Grand Canyon, the Eiffel Tower, the Forbidden City, etc.).
• I was looking at some streets in Chicago, and the image showed where a car crash had occurred, which was delaying traffic at that very moment (info posted by a Google user).