OASIS NYC has a great satellite image and mapping toolkit that is sort of a Google/Yahoo maps a la New York.

One of the nifty things to do is zoom in on bits of LIC area pre/post the building boom. Unfortunately, their current satellite image is only 2004 -- so a number of the most significant projects are missing. But you can roll back the clock to see the 1996 view.

Back then, here are the two big blocks behind the Citibank building.

And here is 2004. The shadow moved! But so have all those cars. There is also a bit of street that got closed off for parking right east of the tower. And notice the trees have grown.

You can check out these very high resolution pictures and interesting maps here.

Of course that's only part of the cool stuff you can do with their "community mapping" tool. For example, you can overlay all kinds of urban planning data -- parks, zoning, waterways, and so on that Google Maps hardly cares about. Like this map below explains why it has taken SO LONG for the "next hot neighborhood called LIC" to happen. Most of the zoning is industrial and not open to residential development. Look at the purple (reds are commercial, greens are parks). Only the oranges and yellows are allowed to be turned into apartments. No wonder there are so few lofts and small buildings...only big dveloper-led projects.