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Mars, Moon on Google Maps

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Re: Mars, Moon on Google Maps

#74

Post by Mankhool »

DanBC wrote: post #59
pen2l wrote: post #46

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> You should be skeptical of everything Google tells you, like every other organisation. If anything, this should be a pointed reminder of that fact. Okay so you're driving to your parent's house and open up Google Maps for directions, are you going to start doubting its directions? There is a difference between a joke being made by a person or a small company vs. implanting fake information in a source (Google Maps)…

> Okay so you're driving to your parent's house and open up Google Maps for directions, are you going to start doubting its directions? If it tells you to drive into a lake, yes, you should doubt it. http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/woman-follo...

Reminds me of this: https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2017/06/15/seven...

Re: Mars, Moon on Google Maps

#75

Post by zokier »

Few months back I was looking for a map/poster of Mars and was quite surprised that there weren't that many good options. Almost all of the available full coverage images/maps were based on the ancient Viking data. Investigating bit deeper, apparently the modern high-resolution instruments have imaged only small portion of the surface, so there isn't a simple way to create complete map from those. Additionally, stiching the captured images apparently is highly non-trivial because the images have been taken over such long periods and from different angles etc. Different instruments have also different spectral responses, rarely being exactly plain normal rgb.

If some image processing wizard would want to make a stab at merging all the different image sources, I think the results could be quite spectacular. The data is mostly there and publicly available, it just needs massive amounts of processing.

Re: Mars, Moon on Google Maps

#76

Post by s0rce »

pen2l wrote: post #46
matthewmacleod wrote: post #45

Earlier quoted context omitted.

And the world you paint, where excessive care must be taken to avoid even the slightest possibility of confusion, is deeply dull and boring. It's the same attitude that's led to such widespread bland corporatism. You should be skeptical of everything Google tells you, like every other organisation. If anything, this should be a pointed reminder of that fact.

> You should be skeptical of everything Google tells you, like every other organisation. If anything, this should be a pointed reminder of that fact. Okay so you're driving to your parent's house and open up Google Maps for directions, are you going to start doubting its directions? There is a difference between a joke being made by a person or a small company vs. implanting fake information in a source (Google Maps)…

Google maps for a time suggested you swim across the Atlantic ocean if you requested walking directions from NYC to Europe, this is clearly ridiculous and a good example. While usually providing useful information you still have to think and use some common sense. Another good example is that google might be providing what it thinks is correct information but might be out of date, for example there are people who pay attention to the nav and drive across bridges that have been washed out because they didn't pay attention to the physical signs. Trusting google is not a replacement for common sense and logical thinking.

Re: Mars, Moon on Google Maps

#78

Post by bastawhiz »

Pigo wrote: post #62

My 5 year old son has recently become fascinated with the solar system, and Mars in particular. He's really interested in Olympus Mons too, which is why I was bummed to see it was mostly missing from the map. Why would there not be enough images of the second largest mountain in the solar system? Is it because it's too tall?

They do have altitude data. Hold control and drag the view, and you'll be able to explore it in 3D. As for why there's not much in the way of imagery, I'd guess it's because Olympus Mons is at least 40 million miles away at any given point.

Re: Mars, Moon on Google Maps

#79

Post by wolfgang42 »

DanBC wrote: post #59
pen2l wrote: post #46

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> You should be skeptical of everything Google tells you, like every other organisation. If anything, this should be a pointed reminder of that fact. Okay so you're driving to your parent's house and open up Google Maps for directions, are you going to start doubting its directions? There is a difference between a joke being made by a person or a small company vs. implanting fake information in a source (Google Maps)…

> Okay so you're driving to your parent's house and open up Google Maps for directions, are you going to start doubting its directions? If it tells you to drive into a lake, yes, you should doubt it. http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/woman-follo...

That article seems to be very carefully worded to imply that the navigation system was involved in the accident, without coming out and saying so.

> A woman following her car's sat nav on a foggy night took a wrong turn and ended up driving into a lake. [...] she lost her way and drove down a steep boat launch into Lake Huron. [...] Local police said the way the harbour’s boat launch is built means a wrong turn taken on a rainy night would come as a shock.

That is to say, when she drove into the lake it seems to have been because she wasn't following the directions, and this, combined with the fog and a confusing design for the boat launch, caused her to not realize that she wasn't on a regular road (albeit the wrong one) until it disappeared out from under her.

The article then concludes with some statistics about GPS causing distracted driving, without either connecting them back to the news item at hand or comparing them to distracted driving caused by non-electronic navigation.

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