There's also an ability to have users contribute corrections to Google Maps data ("Fix it"), which I haven't noticed before:

http://maps.google.com/help/maps/edit/promo.html#utm_campaig...

The direct-edit is new as of last week (http://google-latlong.blogspot.com/2007/11/think-globally-ma...), although there was a buried form to submit inaccurate data before.

Much-needed feature - the lack of accurate "last hundred yards" information is the #1 problem with current mapping applications.

One of these days, Google needs to get their act together and create a _real_ flight simulator. A data set like this is the stuff that legendary software is made of. Just imagine what you could do with this accurate terrain data, satellite imagery and a few CPU-centuries of pattern recognition.

Who says we don't need terabyte hard dives? We need petabytes.

At least in my area (Ann Arbor), the resolution is too low to see much. As a cyclist/runner, for instance, one might be curious about steep inclines around town. No such luck here.

Wow! Wow wow wow. This is really awesome drawing technology. I wonder where they get the data from.

from NAVTEQ, who in turn get it from the Census Bureau TIGER project

Are you sure Navteq has elevation data for the entire world? They have high-resolution elevation maps for Europe as well.