Hours and hours can be spent looking at Google maps. Apart from revolutionizing communication and changing the way we live, it might just be the best thing about the Internet. The hybrid function (where the maps and satellite images are overlapped) lets you wander around neighbourhoods far away. I’ve retraced walks I went on in San Francisco in 2001, found relative’s homes and plugged in Warren Beatty’s Mullholland Drive address to see what his backyard looks like. The moment a notorious location hits the news, or was in the news, you can plug the address in and see for yourself. Here you can see crop circles outside of Sheffield, England — or here see how much of Detroit’s urban form has disappeared and turned into urban prairie.
It’s true that from the air Toronto doesn’t look broke at all.