"google world" to map out routes?
 

if you dont know google world is a free program by google that gives you a 360 view of very high resaloution satalite images.... I think this would be a fantastic tool for bike touring :D

it is a cool program, but I don't know how you would use it on the road
ya gotta have a pretty fast broadband type connection and a CPU with some horsepower
Might be cool to use prior to setting out.
e.g.
you could easily locate the starting point (a road or intersection) then, using a paper map as a guide, you can 'fly over' the route using Google Earth.

by the way, try doing a fly over w/Google Earth of the Grand Canyon and places like that... way cool

If you use the "roads" checkbox it shows you the roads in various colors, but you can't decide: is it paved or not?
marmotte

It's a cool toy, but can you map out a route and will it show distances etc.?

I use it alot to choose routes when I'm going on rides. Its great!!

cool im so glad other people do that to