Google Maps Offers Oblique Views to Aerial Images

Google Maps has made aerial images of select ground features (building, landmarks, etc.) taken at a 45°angle available to all users. The announcement was made by Randy Wilson, of Google's Imagery Team, in a post to the official Google Maps blog - Google LatLong: Changing your perspective, once again....

Currently, this 45° imagery is available only in about a dozen-and a-half locations worldwide (mostly in Europe. Available U.S. locations are concentrated on the West Coast, with most of them in California. (Interestingly, while Santa Clara and San Jose in the Silicon Valley are included, Google's home base of Mountain View is not.

The vast majority of aerial images in Google Maps remain the familiar directly-overhead shots.