Comments on: 2006 Google Earth Census

2006 Google Earth Census

divabat — Fri, 17 Feb 2006 06:09:28 -0800

By: Baby_Balrog

Baby_Balrog — Fri, 17 Feb 2006 06:29:16 -0800

Please provide links to the pictures he's talking about - I can't seem to find them on his personal blog that you linked to on the front page of metafilter.

By: empath

empath — Fri, 17 Feb 2006 06:36:13 -0800

Yeah, it's a good idea, but very slight on content. I want some google earth links, at the very least.

By: Saucy Intruder

Saucy Intruder — Fri, 17 Feb 2006 06:37:18 -0800

seahawks stadium

By: majick

majick — Fri, 17 Feb 2006 06:39:30 -0800

Um. All I saw there was one (very small) weblog post, with valuable information like "...Rosi left a comment saying that she saw a guy playing tennis, but she didn't remember where." I'm not sure what I'm supposed to get from this link, but what I found was not of great quality.

By: clevershark

clevershark — Fri, 17 Feb 2006 06:44:50 -0800

There are a bunch of people on the field at Giants Stadium, but it's obviously not a game.

By: raedyn

raedyn — Fri, 17 Feb 2006 06:51:51 -0800

It's a good idea, but the execution is a little lacking. How about coordinates or links or screenshots or... something.

By: delmoi

delmoi — Fri, 17 Feb 2006 07:00:00 -0800

Yeah, what the hell is with the lack of links? I mean, how hard is it to link to a google maps page? The "link" button is right there in the corner. Bleh.

By: daveleck

daveleck — Fri, 17 Feb 2006 07:01:08 -0800

The timing of the Seahawks Stadium shot is pretty impressive...

By: Gator

Gator — Fri, 17 Feb 2006 07:04:33 -0800

They seem to be talking about Google Earth, not Google Maps. I haven't installed it myself, but doesn't Google Earth let you zoom in a lot closer than regular Google Maps?

By: salmacis

salmacis — Fri, 17 Feb 2006 07:15:47 -0800

Not any more, I don't think.

By: lemonfridge

lemonfridge — Fri, 17 Feb 2006 07:16:24 -0800

I randomly zoomed in to a street in Manhattan and is swarming with people, and Liberty Island. Has this guy even looked?

By: majick

majick — Fri, 17 Feb 2006 07:22:58 -0800

The Google Earth People and Cultures forum has some listings for person-spotting, and contains actual clickable placemarks as opposed to vague mentions of things people may or may not have seen.

By: MillMan

MillMan — Fri, 17 Feb 2006 08:03:47 -0800

There has been a high res map of Cambridge, MA on google earth for quite a while now. Plenty of people are visible walking around Harvard square.

By: hal9k

hal9k — Fri, 17 Feb 2006 08:14:40 -0800

The timing of the Seahawks Stadium shot is pretty impressive... That's impressive? 3 and out and punting from their own end zone? They even suck from space!

By: Saucy Intruder

Saucy Intruder — Fri, 17 Feb 2006 08:29:19 -0800

They seem to be talking about Google Earth, not Google Maps. I haven't installed it myself, but doesn't Google Earth let you zoom in a lot closer than regular Google Maps? The level of detail is the same. You can zoom in closer on Google Earth, but after a certain point it's just pixels.

By: freudianslipper

freudianslipper — Fri, 17 Feb 2006 08:33:59 -0800

always lots of people at pike place market in seattle.

By: charmston

charmston — Fri, 17 Feb 2006 08:54:21 -0800

I found a touring ferry about to dock at Alcatraz in the bay.

By: Pollomacho

Pollomacho — Fri, 17 Feb 2006 08:57:35 -0800

Has this guy even looked? Apparently not. I just randomly picked "Beijing" and zoomed in on the entrance to the Forbidden City to see all the tourists heading in. Then I typed "London" and zoomed all the way in without moving and found a flock of Westminster tourists. Lazy.

By: eddydamascene

eddydamascene — Fri, 17 Feb 2006 09:13:01 -0800

Statue of Liberty and Watts Towers on Microsoft local.live. Pepsi Blue!

By: raedyn

raedyn — Fri, 17 Feb 2006 09:14:46 -0800

Has this guy even looked? - lemonfridge With the name "Antonella" and the byline "women, life, technology, and the pursuit of happiness", I'm assuming it's not a guy.

By: Faint of Butt

Faint of Butt — Fri, 17 Feb 2006 09:23:06 -0800

There's plenty of people milling about the Inner Harbor in Baltimore, too. Lazy, lazy bloggers. (And I might have to start telling people that they suck from space. That's awesome.)

By: cenoxo

cenoxo — Fri, 17 Feb 2006 10:26:43 -0800

Anthill, Colorado

By: squarehead

squarehead — Fri, 17 Feb 2006 10:47:57 -0800

This just in: People seen on Earth.

By: Atreides

Atreides — Fri, 17 Feb 2006 10:54:32 -0800

Aliens shocked and dismayed. Interview with Zygork Xxliplit: Interviewer: So what are you feelings on the evidence of people being seen on Earth? Zygork: Disgusted! Just a hundred million years ago, the place was a wonderful vacation spot for my wife and three splatgoks. Now? Its ruined! Interviewer: Do you think you will ever make plans to return? Zygork: Return? With those people? Please, all I need is another trip to the doctor's office for shots.

By: Lord Kinbote

Lord Kinbote — Fri, 17 Feb 2006 10:56:18 -0800

Maybe this guy doesn't understand that objects appear smaller when viewed from a great distance? Yankee Stadium, the Bronx is rather occupied. Last April, when Google's satellite views were novel, frecklefaerie posted "See the Sights from Satellites". I posted a comment with a link to 3Com park, aka Candlestick Park, where a 49ers game was in progress. I guess they've taken a new photo of 3Com in the last nine months...

By: eddydamascene

eddydamascene — Fri, 17 Feb 2006 11:17:42 -0800

Aerial views have been removed on those two links I posted. That sucks.

By: DevilsAdvocate

DevilsAdvocate — Fri, 17 Feb 2006 11:18:20 -0800

Jackson Square, New Orleans.

By: MrMoonPie

MrMoonPie — Fri, 17 Feb 2006 11:36:44 -0800

Tourists looking at the White House.

By: Pollomacho

Pollomacho — Fri, 17 Feb 2006 11:38:24 -0800

I can clearly make out a beignet in the upper right of your photo DA. The question remains however, how many people in that picture are drunk?

By: Buzz

Buzz — Fri, 17 Feb 2006 12:00:32 -0800

That's impressive? 3 and out and punting from their own end zone? They even suck from space! Ha! The Seahawks actually wear blue at home, but with that Washington State logo at midfield I'm going to have to guess that it's actually the Cougars sucking from space. And yeah, it's incredibly easy to find people in parks, stadiums, and other public places.

By: i_cola

i_cola — Fri, 17 Feb 2006 13:18:50 -0800

Not to labour the point but...

Sightings: Erik found people at the Seahawks Stadium, in Seattle,WA (1000 Occidental Ave S). "Looks like the 'hawks have the other team backed up at the 3 yard line." While looking for the Seahawks Stadium, I found another football field in Seattle with a lot of people. It's south of Mercier and 4th avenue. Filed under Antonella, Web & Technology by Antonella Pavese.

Might want to be trying that cool new web technology called a link. Birds, eh? /Andy Capp

By: wuakeen

wuakeen — Fri, 17 Feb 2006 20:04:32 -0800

Fishermans Wharf Not people, but VISIBLE SEA LIONS!!!!

By: hincandenza

hincandenza — Sat, 18 Feb 2006 01:22:25 -0800

Just as a tidbit related to this: it depends largely on the scale and quality of the shot, as well as the angle. When MSN was quietly launching their Virtual Earth* site, there was an interview at the MSDN Channel 9 site with some of the Maps people. They addressed the question about these types of sites, regarding "Won't this stuff violate personal privacy if you can see people via satellite?". His response was that with most photos at current resolutions (at the time), a large number of people tend to "disappear" between the pixels, since with the resolution available they tend to be effectively averaged between the colors of two pixels, and get "averaged" out of the shot altogether. This is why sometimes busy streets could look empty of most people, as they get pixellated right into the sidewalk unless they're at just the right angle/location. However, that was way back in the stone ages of last spring/summer. Now, with higher resolution photos, or much larger crowds of people- not to mention the "bird's eye" angled shots- the people will start to be more and more visible. Certainly these shots we're seeing at Google and MSN are showing more detail than they did previously. * Maybe I'm biased but I think virtualearth.msn.com is considerably superior to Google Maps, and the whole mapping/satellite thing was done much earlier by Mappoint and Terraserver anyway. There, I said it! Microsoft made the better product and was earlier to market to boot! I'm a heretic!!!