In this section, we're going to use Google Maps to get an image of our local area to display it in our window.
Since Google Maps is an online service, an Internet connection is required to download a map. However, if your Raspberry Pi isn't connected to the Internet, there is still a way to proceed. Python is cross-platform. This means that it works on lots of different computers and operating systems. So long as you have access to another computer that does have an Internet connection, all of the code in this chapter will work.
Python can be downloaded from http://www.python.org/download/, and the code in this book is based on Python 2.7. (Python is often preinstalled on Linux operating systems, and it is best to keep it up to date with your built-in packaging system.) Once installed on any computer, IDLE will be available and should behave exactly as it does on the Raspberry Pi.
