For photographers who shoot on location –outside of the studio- location scouting is one of the most important, yet most time consuming and difficult part of a shoot.
Many people have different ways of finding locations, from location scouting websites, to Google Earth and Bing Map’s Birds Eye View. All those methods are fine, however I prefer to do a bit of walking. Because I do my shoots in somewhat urban settings I’ll visit a new subway station, and just explore around the half a mile or so of heavily developed areas. I usually come away with two or three great locations this way.
However sometimes I don’t have the time this method takes. So I use Bing Maps and go the Birds Eye View mode. This can often times reveal interesting details about a park or other location you’ve never visited. I’ve done this a couple of times, and have to admit I’ve never been let down. Google Street View is also another option for scouting locations, though I feel the system is somewhat cumbersome for just exploring around a neighborhood.