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Clicking on the Satellite button you can swap between the map view and the overview of the landscape
Maps - you'll be there
Maps - you'll be there
Maps is one of the best research tools that you can use, and yet it is criminally underappreciated.
You can make great use of it when you looking for real life locations for your story, or find landscapes that would fit within a fantasy setting. Check distances, travel times on foot or with vehicles that can help you make correct estimates about where you characters can be within reasonable time frame.
Drag the little guy over the roads of the location and it will highlight where street view is available. Drop the guy onto one of these highlighted roads to enter street view.
Satellite views can help you to get a better understanding of the layout of the land structures, roads and landmarks.
When you find some place that seems like an interesting candidate for a scene, pick up the small human icon in the lower right corner.
In street view you can take a good look at the surroundings, observe many details about the land itself, vegetation, surroundings and get inspired by the view to make good descriptive segments within your story.
If you can't get a good look at something moving along the road to get a different angle can help often.
Even where street view is not available, looking at the scenery from the top can provide a very detailed and useful overview where you can plan out scenes without the need for making up every little detail yourself.
Maps is an invaluable tool, not only because making up every little detail is a lot of unnecessary work, but keeping track of all those details is a real nightmare if you try to keep things grounded and plausible.
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