I was using it to plan NAV's then zoom in on the departure point, pan the camera angle so that it was looking obliquely across the surface rather than straight down at it, orientate roughly in the direction of the destination, give it a click & drag, & it continues to rotate the earth slowly in the direction you indicated.
So that now it looked like a I was flying the leg I had planned; I sit back with my map & nav data sheet, picking up obvious natural landmarks, verifying my timings where I should be & getting a satelite accurate mind picture of exactly how my flight profile should be looking when at a given waypoint, or position check.
the terrain maps are sufficient that you pick out major features to aim at, you can count the ridgelines etc. turn left at 'somewhere' & drop in right where you're supposed to be.
considering there is no need to purchase a flight simulator package, local navigation specific scenery/imagery for your region & install, etc. etc., it is a cheep & accessible way for pilots to plan & (virtually) fly in areas that they are unfamiliar with before sitting bum in cockpit & getting geographically misplaced.
...of course then there is always a GPS.
but for student pilots in their navigation phase of training - a wonderful training aide, use it to your benefit, particularly if you can obtain Lat./Long. of the locations you are flying from & to, you can placemark them before you start & be confident that on they flight you're NAV will be 100% spot on because you have already done a dress rehearsal so to speek. it takes all of 3-5 minutes of your time to achieve a 'fly over' - time well spent IMHO
cheers
