that is a close up zoom of a camel – and it works for other place on Google Maps too! Yes, it turns out that you can zoom in much more deeply onto Google Maps by doing this:

1. Select a location and switch to satellite view
2. Zoom in as far as you can, and click “link to this page” at the top right
3. Now replace the “z” parameter in the URL with a higher value, e.g. 20, 22, or 23, and wait. Some locations will now show more detailed imagery

Source

Evidentally this isn’t a trick if you use Google Earth as it zooms in all the way anyway.  And very, very few areas have a higher zoom option available.

As for getting Google Maps links to work, I’ve never figured the damn things out.

Charybdis - 09 March 2007 08:27 AM

As for getting Google Maps links to work, I’ve never figured the damn things out.

Good thing I’ve worked out how to do it then. You’re supposed to click on the “Link to this page” at the top of the map, then copy the url.  I’ve also found that it helps to use the a href tag, rather than the url tag.