Live data from Hacker News

Google Maps a Japanese Nuclear Ghost Town

theatlantic.com

11–20 of 44 posts

Re: Google Maps a Japanese Nuclear Ghost Town

#11
post #7

This guys card is black is that good? https://maps.google.com/maps?q=Namie+town,+Fukushima+Prefect...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Film_badge_dosimeter

If I am understanding that article correctly, it is used not as an alert but as a record of how much cumulative exposure a person has received while in a hazardous area.

Re: Google Maps a Japanese Nuclear Ghost Town

#12

Everything is so pristine and untouched. If it were the US, it would have all been looted and graffitied long ago. But I'm afraid by publishing the condition of his town through Google Maps, the mayor has pretty much assured it won't stay pristine very long. Japan has its share of thieves and vandals too. Plus hordes of amateur photographers and urban explorers will be trying to sneak into the place, radiation or not…

Radiation contamination makes an excellent deterrent, not only can you not see it, you can't know even if you don't feel any ill effects if you're going to die coughing up a lung in a few weeks (and no, nowhere except inside the containment buildings is that contaminated) That said, it was an opportunity for Google to take radiation readings everywhere (perhaps they did but didn't release that information). Looking a…

I've watched this, and it was pretty interesting:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=or_rksDBssw

Re: Google Maps a Japanese Nuclear Ghost Town

#13
Might be worth mentioning that there are people that live inside the exclusion zone, like Naoto Matsumura. He stayed behind to take care of all the animals.

[1] http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/08/31/japan-farmer-fukush...

[2] https://www.facebook.com/pages/Naoto-Matsumura-Guardian-of-F...

Re: Google Maps a Japanese Nuclear Ghost Town

#14
post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"I'd love to see a hack that lets one walk around in first-person inside an environment using Street View imagery, like a video game." There was a TED video in 2010 doing almost that: http://www.ted.com/talks/blaise_aguera.html

I just watched that whole thing. Very impressive.

interesting, but didn't microsoft started to try to map the world with that very same approach way before streetview?

i can't remember the name of the project though...

Re: Google Maps a Japanese Nuclear Ghost Town

#15

I love what Google has done with Street View. Taking the technology indoors just does something completely different for me than outdoor shots. In this place it lets you look at intimate details of what used to be other peoples' every day lives. There's so much to explore. Can any one read this blackboard? http://goo.gl/maps/zWAqm I'd love to see a hack that lets one walk around in first-person inside an environment…

Google have been doing lots of fun topical things with Street View lately.

Here's Japanese Cherry Blossom viewing, Street View style: http://www.google.com/landing/japanview/

Re: Google Maps a Japanese Nuclear Ghost Town

#16

Might be worth mentioning that there are people that live inside the exclusion zone, like Naoto Matsumura. He stayed behind to take care of all the animals. [1] http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/08/31/japan-farmer-fukush... [2] https://www.facebook.com/pages/Naoto-Matsumura-Guardian-of-F...

VICE Japan also made a video [1] on a couple of people (incl. the person in your 2nd link) who decided to stay and take care of what they could.

[1] http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=llM9MIM_9U4 (With English CC)

Re: Google Maps a Japanese Nuclear Ghost Town

#17

I love what Google has done with Street View. Taking the technology indoors just does something completely different for me than outdoor shots. In this place it lets you look at intimate details of what used to be other peoples' every day lives. There's so much to explore. Can any one read this blackboard? http://goo.gl/maps/zWAqm I'd love to see a hack that lets one walk around in first-person inside an environment…

I think it says

    学びもののまとめをしよう
    生活のまとめをしよう
    事業と休みの区別をしよう
which are kind of preachy statements about how they should run the class.. Keep your learning stuff in order, keep your lifestyle in order, have a clear break between classtime and rest time. I'd assume that it's a left over from when the class was studying for end of year exams perhaps? Since the earthquake came at the end of a school year.

Re: Google Maps a Japanese Nuclear Ghost Town

#18

I love what Google has done with Street View. Taking the technology indoors just does something completely different for me than outdoor shots. In this place it lets you look at intimate details of what used to be other peoples' every day lives. There's so much to explore. Can any one read this blackboard? http://goo.gl/maps/zWAqm I'd love to see a hack that lets one walk around in first-person inside an environment…

> Can any one read this blackboard?

The first two sentences are too blurry for me. I think the third (left-most) sentence is:

○ 授業と休み時間の区別をしよう

"Let's distinguish between class time and break time."

Re: Google Maps a Japanese Nuclear Ghost Town

#19
post #2

This is highly interesting! Things I could notice: First, wildlife just ignores radiation, also nature is quick to take back whatever we are not using. Second, Japanese architecture is interesting, no building is ugly, both the modern ones (like the waterfront building that did not got smashed) and old ones (the traditional-looking houses). Maybe excepting schools (that are just rectangular boxes filled with windows)…

That town had negligible amounts of radiation, but this was a clear case of better safe than sorry and calling an evacuation was clearly a good idea. However, after a few weeks the area was at normal background levels, so keeping a large exclusion zone is perhaps overly cautious.

One sievert carries with it a ~5.5% chance of eventually developing cancer. These places are dealing with ~0.000001 Sv per hour level which is .008sievert after 10 years which when multiplied by say 100,000 people may suggest reasonable cancer risks. However, there is a fair amount of evidence that suggests ultra low levels of radiation are significantly less harmful than that. But, it's really hard to measure small effects on large populations as there are lot's of cancer risks.

Re: Google Maps a Japanese Nuclear Ghost Town

#20
post #5

I understand it would not have been necessary, but I think this would have been a good opportunity to put one of those self-driving cars to use. Lots of potential obstacles and the (not really a concern) health risk factor.

Or even just a remotely controlled car.
Post reply on HN