Here is an extraordinary software: It allors you to make the earth turn like a marble, and zoom where you would like.
You can explore the entire planet!
Go and see the imperial palace in Peking, the Golden Gate, explore the Middle-East deserts. Go and see the airport of Charles de Gaulle, go for a walk in the region of the big lakes of Canada or to go to the gorges of the Big Canyon. You can even have a view in 3D (try to view the Big Canyon, it is striking).
This software uses intensely your internet connection to pick at random in the gigantic data base of Google pictures. Therefore it is recommended to have a broad-band connection to take advantage of this software.
Besides, Google Earth is linked to various sites like Wikipedia or Panoramio.com, that permits you to see photos of places, to read the articles of Wikipedia concerning these places, etc.,