From my experience (running on a slower modem than recommended) you need to give the system to focus on the area you are looking at. As Sheryl discovered not all names are in the computer and you do have to zoom in manually. It also helps to put town and country names in (i.e. Alice Springs, Australia) to find some places, 'Scotland' takes you some place in the States!!
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I have been using this google earth system for a long while now and it can be quite spectacular. I have spotted many areas in Crete that now attract my attention - in particular the South coast immediately South of Heraklion. Might investigate that this September.
First point is that the whole world is not covered by the highest quality pictures. Some places such as some locations in the States have stunning quality where one can see people on the ground. Other places might be rather/very fuzzy especially when too close.
I get a reasonable view of Plakias bay (my default view) when I go to about 30,000 feet when viewed vertically. When you have a heavy tilt it still looks quite good from about 5000 feet . It is worth using a heavy tilt to get a better impression as only the foreground seems very fuzzy and the middle to background looks quite good and the mountains look spectacular and realistic - with very good 3D impression - a good compromise. A trip round the whole coast of Crete can be quite spectacular from about 5000ft with a heavy tilt in operation.
The other factor is that the quality of the PC graphics card may have a significant effect on what one person sees versus another.
And yes, one sometimes has to wait for a long time for the graphics to catch up and produce the optimum picture. I have a fast PC on broadband and it can still find that aspect quite hard work. It is a fantastic piece of software.
John R
