Be great to have a pop-up, fly-out (?) aerial map so I can see where my friends are that are distant (ie: I'm in NY but have many friends scattered across the US). If I could adjust the zoom level (kite height?) that's be peachy.
In the various map views in Brightkite, you should be able to zoom in and out using the scroll wheel on the mouse (as you can in the standard Google Maps)