Want to stroll down the Champs Elysees in Paris? Feel like taking a personal look at the Great Wall of China? Or perhaps you’d like to explore the island of Tahiti on your lunch break? Thanks to Google Earth, you can. With Google Earth, you can forget the Frequent Flyer miles. All you have to do is plop down in front of your monitor to see the world up close the easy way. No lousy airline food, no baggage claim, no customs line — just plain fun! And I’m not just talking about some plain old maps here. Google has gone to the trouble to bring you the latest in high-tech GIS (Geographical Information Systems) — and has done it right. Although the program can easily compete with most of the high-end GIS software around today, Google Earth isn’t just for the cognoscenti: It’s for the masses.