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Google Maps is no longer a flat map

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Re: Google Maps is no longer a flat map

#151

Post by robotresearcher »

mhh__ wrote: post #147
Nitramp wrote: post #145

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There's always some dude on TV bragging, but I'd be skeptical. https://www.quora.com/How-powerful-are-the-cameras-on-modern... TL;DR is that satellites have a 9 cm resolution at best. That's not enough to see a golf ball (4 cm diameter), and far away from discovering a producer's imprint on it. With drones you can get an order of magnitude better, but that's still only barely enough to find said golf ball, and not en…

Who said it has to a be a satellite?

jjeaff did.

> He was explaining that the satellite maps provided to the public

Re: Google Maps is no longer a flat map

#152

Post by genericid »

robotresearcher wrote: post #151
mhh__ wrote: post #147

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Who said it has to a be a satellite?

jjeaff did. > He was explaining that the satellite maps provided to the public

> compared to what the government is able to see.

That does not imply satellite maps.

Re: Google Maps is no longer a flat map

#153

Post by genericid »

schiffern wrote: post #118
dougmwne wrote: post #11

I wonder what the long term geopolitical consequences will be when we all stop looking at projected maps. That small peninsula to the west of Asia just got a little smaller. A certain island kingdom is now more clearly the size of Uganda. Maybe Google can also flip the globe "upside-down" for all users "below" the equator.

>Maybe Google can also flip the globe "upside-down" for all users "below" the equator. I must be the only weirdo who wants the opposite: equator up . South-up in the Northern hemisphere and north-up in the Southern hemisphere. Why? Because I want the Sun at the top of the screen (or more accurately, the sunny side of buildings/hills/anything).

Then you'd have to special-case maps that include the equator itself.

Re: Google Maps is no longer a flat map

#155

Post by robotresearcher »

genericid wrote: post #152
robotresearcher wrote: post #151

Earlier quoted context omitted.

jjeaff did. > He was explaining that the satellite maps provided to the public

> compared to what the government is able to see. That does not imply satellite maps.

I guess you can read it that way if you try. But neither I or the other commenter got that meaning.

Re: Google Maps is no longer a flat map

#156

Post by mikeash »

jacobolus wrote: post #140
mikeash wrote: post #49

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Regardless of what the eye sees, the brain perceives three dimensions. This projection happens to be the one that the brain can automatically unpack into an accurate 3D representation. Technically, things near the edges are squished and distorted, but that gets undone in the wetware.

Let me give you a concrete example. Here is what North America looks like on this new map: https://i.imgur.com/lCI8DjY.jpg This is not a good projection to use if you want to see all of North America. There is dramatically more distortion than necessary, and shapes near the edges get very squished (the west coast of the US is okay), but it is not at all obvious to a naïve viewer what kind of distortions are involved,…

I'm not convinced it isn't still the best option. The naive viewer may not properly perceive the distortions, but I bet they'll get closer than with anything else, for general purposes.

What projection would you say would be good for that view?

Re: Google Maps is no longer a flat map

#157

Post by Robotbeat »

quadrangle wrote: post #115
Robotbeat wrote: post #87

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You can, of course, use VR to get a stereoscopic 3D display as well, like what humans see in the real world. Except for depth of field (which some prototype VR systems can still accomplish), that's as 3D as real life. And Google Maps/Earth VR can indeed do that.

what about focus?

Some VR companies are working on that.

Re: Google Maps is no longer a flat map

#158

Post by lozf »

cam_l wrote: post #144
martijn_himself wrote: post #46

Google Maps must be one of the modern wonders of the world, it's still nothing short of breathtaking to zoom out of streetview in crowded London and then land somewhere on a country crossroads in remote Vietnam.

It is, i remember being captivated by this film in the (mid? late?) 90s.. (from the late 70s, pieced together by hand). Never imagined it would be (partly) possible in realtime.. some 10 years later. (eagerly hanging out for orbit view milky way, but probably not in my lifetime) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0fKBhvDjuy0

Thanks for posting that - I was thinking about it the other day when I saw this[0] posted in another thread here. Great for sense of scale, but no "street view" in this one.

[0]: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q1mkjkTqg0Y

Re: Google Maps is no longer a flat map

#159

Post by genericid »

robotresearcher wrote: post #155
genericid wrote: post #152

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> compared to what the government is able to see. That does not imply satellite maps.

I guess you can read it that way if you try. But neither I or the other commenter got that meaning.

> if you try

Please refrain from baseless accusations. Thank you.

Re: Google Maps is no longer a flat map

#160

Post by jpindar »

gefh wrote: post #110
pmilla1606 wrote: post #6

Looks like this isn't rolled out to everyone. I'm not seeing the 3D version (logged in & incognito).

For rollouts like this, a small holdback experiment is typical, to assess long term trends. Or maybe your browser doesn't have hardware acceleration enabled? Or you could be in canvas mode? Try ?force=webgl on the end of the maps url in case it's the latter. Try shadertoy.com to see if webgl is available.

?force=webgl fixed it for me, thanks
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