TBV Recommends...

For those bored at home with a good connection, TBV highly recommends the addictive Google Earth program, which gives phenominal satellite and aerial photo mapping and topology data. It is very amusing to draw routes around the neighborhood, tilt the map to see the elevation and terrain, and then fly the route. (Click the 'terrain' overlay box and shift up and down arrow for 3d tilt).

The related Google Earth Community is a place for people to post overlays of interesting points and paths. During the Tour, there was one that plotted the route and kept track of the riders in near real-time.

Entertaining and addictive, 5 stars out of 5.

Also interesting, but in an immature state of development is Bikely, a route mapping site with a neat interface through Google maps.

Promising, 3 of 5.

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