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Google Treks

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Re: Google Treks

#71

Post by johnyzee »

FPSDavid wrote: post #58
jac_no_k wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Partly a reality for cyclists. http://www.tacx.com/en/products/trainers/i-genius-multiplaye... http://www.cycleops.com/en/products/software/virtual-trainin... http://www.minoura.jp/english/trainer-e/option-e/cogmon-e.ht... Cycling on indoor trainers is boring without some sort of incentive.

iGenius + computer-controlled fan + Oculus Rift = give me NOW!

Seriously. With a proper cycle mount with force feedback and swaying you could get very close to a real experience.

Re: Google Treks

#72

Post by philbo »

coldtea wrote: post #64
enneff wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's pretty short-sighted. Imagine if we had these kind of views of, say, the streets of London in 1900? This is worth doing for history's sake alone.

> Imagine if we had these kind of views of, say, the streets of London in 1900? This is worth doing for history's sake alone. For one, yeah, "what if" we had these kind of views for the streets of London in 1900? I doubt many would care, same as not many care for 1900 music, 1900 books, 1900 photographs and such. Some scholars maybe. Second, what the parent said goes beyond that. Essentially he says, the people of 22…

You think the only people interested in classical music and literature are "some scholars maybe"?

Re: Google Treks

#73

Post by Dewie »

Thlom wrote: post #46
bibinou wrote: post #35

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Where do I apply http://www.google.com/maps/about/partners/streetview/trekker...

One of the richest companies in the world are asking the public to help them for free?

I think the idea is that organizations with a vested interest in the success of this concept are going to help them, such as tourist organization. That could be a win-win.

Re: Google Treks

#74

Post by [deleted] »

marcioaguiar wrote: post #68
wtvanhest wrote: post #66

I can't believe I'm typing this, but after the new Google map changes, it runs so slow on my home and office computer that I was forced to switch to bing. It still works on my mobile, but its just unbearable on the other systems. I hope they create a more streamlined version soon.

Definetly slower. Also, there's some features I miss from the old maps, like navigation on the map while on StreetView and the measurement ruler (from labs). But you don't need to switch to Bing as you can still change to the classic google maps.

[deleted]

Re: Google Treks

#75

Post by enneff »

coldtea wrote: post #64
enneff wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's pretty short-sighted. Imagine if we had these kind of views of, say, the streets of London in 1900? This is worth doing for history's sake alone.

> Imagine if we had these kind of views of, say, the streets of London in 1900? This is worth doing for history's sake alone. For one, yeah, "what if" we had these kind of views for the streets of London in 1900? I doubt many would care, same as not many care for 1900 music, 1900 books, 1900 photographs and such. Some scholars maybe. Second, what the parent said goes beyond that. Essentially he says, the people of 22…

Are you serious with your first paragraph? I don't even know how to respond.

Re: Google Treks

#76

Post by DanBC »

coldtea wrote: post #64
enneff wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's pretty short-sighted. Imagine if we had these kind of views of, say, the streets of London in 1900? This is worth doing for history's sake alone.

> Imagine if we had these kind of views of, say, the streets of London in 1900? This is worth doing for history's sake alone. For one, yeah, "what if" we had these kind of views for the streets of London in 1900? I doubt many would care, same as not many care for 1900 music, 1900 books, 1900 photographs and such. Some scholars maybe. Second, what the parent said goes beyond that. Essentially he says, the people of 22…

> For one, yeah, "what if" we had these kind of views for the streets of London in 1900? I doubt many would care, same as not many care for 1900 music, 1900 books, 1900 photographs and such. Some scholars maybe.

You haven't seen the many-thousands upvoted threads of mashups of various locations in WWII and modern day? Or the sourcebooks that designers use for all the costume drama on TV and in movies?

EDIT: Here's an example Imgur thread. (http://imgur.com/a/2rNrn)

Re: Google Treks

#77

Post by randomsearch »

bibinou wrote: post #67
Thlom wrote: post #46

Earlier quoted context omitted.

One of the richest companies in the world are asking the public to help them for free?

You've just found Google's business model ! Seriously though, this is better done by locals who knows the place than by some Google minions. I think the business model will be selling it to famous landmarks and malls, who have to do it for brand reasons (and then trickle down on the famous scale). See the examples, Burj Khalifa (big ugly tower), Everest, Grand Canyon, Venice, highly touristic places. Expect Eiffel to…

> You've just found Google's business model !

This is essentially correct. Google makes money via providing access to content created by other's.

Try "Who Owns the Future" by Jaron Lanier. It's an interesting read.

Re: Google Treks

#78

Post by VLM »

benatkin wrote: post #3

Google can't wait to usher in a future where people stay in their rooms and eat Soylent while being entertained and exercised by their VR-enabled computers.

I use goog maps to plan hikes, to answer questions like "is this section of the trail kid / cub scout compatible"? Some trail sections are not. I can do a halfway good job with the satellite images and some topo knowledge but this new GOOG "streetview" trail UI is so close, yet so far from what I need.

What I need is something like a youtube of a high speed (maybe 30 mph equiv?) run down the trail.

I'm looking for stuff like hazards and issues. Like, oh, look, a swamp, either bug spray or forget it. Oh, look, a cliff, well thats very scenic but I'm not taking the kids there. Oh look, a whole field of poison ivy, best remember to corral the kids around there. Oh look, a blind corner and adjacent highway crossing, need to keep the kids under somewhat tighter control in that area. Oh look, picnic tables, guess where the kids are stopping to eat lunch?

Another obvious problem is the county I live in has at least 100 miles of trails either cross country or in parks, and the Mighty GOOG has ... the grand canyon. Well thats nice but I'm hiking a short segment of the ice age trail this saturday, not the grand canyon. Someday the streetview-like trail tech will be useful to me, but for years I suspect it'll be merely aspirational. It would be like having streetview for streets... but only in Mountain View.

Re: Google Treks

#79

Post by VLM »

INSURGENCYmusic wrote: post #12

I'm going to do one on Compton, CA.

I see you got downvoted, but ruins of all kinds have always been popular, and a classic recent linkbait has been "pictures of the ruins of abandoned Detroit", seems like every popular magazine / website has tried that one as linkbait.

It seems both inevitable, interesting, and on topic.

Using census records I found the house some of my ancestors lived in about a century ago. The neighborhood has gone, uh, dramatically downhill since then, I wouldn't go there today without kevlar and a rifle, but it was interesting to view the original mostly unmodified house on streetview.

There is also a whole "urban explorer" subculture out there and legally obtained pix of ruins would be interesting.

Re: Google Treks

#80

Post by toomuchtodo »

toomuchtodo wrote: post #25
dylangs1030 wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm not sure you appreciate the engineering infrastructure at work here. This isn't special because Google is doing it, it's special because it's really hard to do. How would you go about attempting this project as effectively as Google with the resources of a typical startup company?

Crawl the web for images, use the GPS EXIF data to find clusters, and use image processing to stitch together 3D environments from the photos. It would not be as good as streetview though.

EDIT: Looks like I'm behind the times. Google already did this:

http://www.fastcodesign.com/1669688/googles-photo-tours-sugg...

http://google-latlong.blogspot.com/2012/04/visit-global-land...

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