Navigating by Google Earth sat images

During our recent trip through the largely remote areas of NE Morocco, we navigated mostly by Google Earth sat images. During trip prep I spent a fair bit of time on Google Earth (free version) looking at the terrain and possible routes. What we ended up with was a series of 80 sat images that were screen grabs detailing the terrain around our entire route. Once I had the images, I used Google Earth to give me lat/longs of key terrain features we need to hit (road junctions, passes through mountains etc) and overlaid them on the sat images. So, each day we would know roughly what compass direction we needed to head and the distance to the next lat/long waypoint. It meant we were never quite lost but also never exactly sure of where we were...which is what made it most fun. Finding your way around terrain features, over obstacles and across the most challenging terrain.

Makes perfect sense. The technology is there nowadays, so why not use it? Getting lost is half the fun, but knowing roughly where you are is also very reassuring. There's a hellava lot of desert out there!

Or at least knowing you aren't actually in Algeria by accident....