Why I rarely use Google Earth lately

SINCE I discovered Google Earth about two years back, courtesy of my good friend Rene Sanapo, I have been a big fan, writing a handful of posts here, here, here, here and here.

But since the last one in October 2006, I have rarely used Google Earth for one simple reason: it has yet to come up with a high-resolution image for Naga.

• It has five high-res images for the Bondoc peninsula in Quezon province, where you can find sleepy towns like San Narciso.

• It already has two south of the city, where you can clearly see Ocampo, Baao, Iriga, Nabua and Bato.

• Hell, it even has them for Tabaco and Legazpi cities in Albay, further down south.

But no Naga.

This is very frustrating for someone charged to lead in updating the city's land use plan.

So unless the wise guys at Google come up with what I think is due my city, no Google Earth for me.

And that land use plan will be updated in a most innovative way -- with the help of a mentor in faraway Washington, D.C.; amazing friends and like-minded people from UBC in Vancouver, Canada; and the stakeholders of Naga City. But no thanks to Google Earth.

And my Google Earth-related posts will continue to stay at six, this one included, and occupy the cellar among my categories.