If It's Hip, It's Here (Archives): googlemaps

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VB&P Creates An Effective Video To Demo The Google and Audi Collaboration.

VB&P (Venables Bell & Partners) has launched a clever and effective new piece for not one, but two of their clients: Google and Audi.

For the past few years I have been writing posts about Norad's Santa Tracker (once a partner of Google's) and how it works as a nice online activity to enjoy with your children and friends. Now that Microsoft's Bing has partnered with Norad, Google has gone all out and created their own Google Maps' Santa Tracker and until it launches on Christmas Eve, you can explore a fun interactive animated site with plenty of games and goodies or download a Google Chrome app for added entertainment.

above: screen grabs of the Village briefing and windtunnel

Santa’s many developer elves, who are hard at work in the North Pole helping Santa prepare for his big day, have combined their elf magic with the latest and greatest in Google Maps technology and sleigh engineering to allow you to follow his progress around the world, and also learn a little about some of his stops along the way.

above: a sneak preview of the Google Santa Tracker which launches on Christmas Eve.

Even without using Google chrome as your browser, you can enjoy the following at the Google Santa Tracker Site:

•Create a Custom Phone Call from Santa in the form of an mp3 file you can send to your friends (This is really cool. It takes a few minutes to make the first one, but it's worth it.)

•You (or your kids) can play one of three games that operates with your keyboard.

Present Drop:

Village Racer:

Jetpack:

If you use Google Chrome, you can download the app and enjoy even more fun like a dashboard tracker, play around with Santa's blimp or elf bus and write messages on a frosty browser window.

•You can Follow Santa on Google+

The friendly elves have also invited you to explore Santa’s village while Santa gets ready for his journey. So go ahead and explore his village, you might just find some fun activities and meet some interesting elves.

The Google Maps Santa Tracker is created and developed by Google, with a little help from Santa’s elves. Need help or have another question? Visit their Help Center to learn more about Santa Tracker.

Related links:

Capturing Toy Soldiers With Mini Blue Helmets All Over The World.

The engaging interactive Miniscule Blue Helmets on a Massive Quest was spearheaded by designer Pierre Derks, a project which has also spawned a new book.

Starting in the Hague in Holland, the task engaged people all over the world to shoot photos of 50,000 little plastic toy soldiers wearing hand-painted blue helmets, hats or berets from over 60 global locations. The blue helmets and berets are a nod to the colored helmets worn by the UN Peacekeepers.

The mass manifestation of the Miniscule Blue Helmets in public space implies that the potential of getting confronted with a heavily armed blue helmeted soldier is within reach of a global audience. Although it is obvious that the encounter is rather different from running into a real-life UN Blue Helmet [shown below], it might just trigger the same questions and feelings about their presence and deployment.

The photos, shot by varying individuals, are then uploaded to a global Google map with a geo tag so you can access where the image was shot and by whom.

The Mini Blue Soldiers Google map can be viewed as either terrain or satellite:

Click upon the icon of the little blue helmets on the google map and you'll get the location, the name of the photographer and the opportunity to view the photograph.

There's no end to the places these little soldiers have been captured. From inside a little apartment in Amsterdam:

to on the ledge of the Grand Canyon:

Eyewitnesses of the quest have submitted hundreds of photos like the ones shown below:

The Book:

Miniscule Blue Helmets on a Massive Quest, the Book by Pierre Derks

“Tiny in size, huge in scope”

The book ‘Miniscule Blue Helmets on a Massive Quest’ by Pierre Derks shows the worldwide intervention of 50,000 plastic toy soldiers with blue hand-painted helmet, beret or hat by means of 500 selected photo's of the mini Blue Helmets on locations in more than 60 countries. An international spectrum of specialists shares in the book their reflections on the project and their expertise on topics that are related.

The book contains text contributions (written in English) by: Susan Manuel, Roger Stahl, Jonathan Vickery, Patrick M. Regan, Jos Morren, Linda Polman, Matt Groff, Christ Klep en Damon Stanek.

The open nature of the project has led to a fascinating variety of outcomes that contributed to the layered meaning. An example is the adoption of the project by Dutch Blue Helmet veterans who took part in the UN mission in Lebanon (70's / 80's). Jos Morren (Association of dutch military war and service victims): “Frank bought 2,000 of those little green men and painted the helmets blue himself, constantly carrying them with him and leaving them in tactical spots. (...) Eric took it more slow, but became inseparable from his one Miniscule Blue Helmet. Very handy, because if you lose touch with the world because of a psychological blockade, you just put your little buddy on the table. Very effective in such a situation. Out of the blue, those boys were suddenly given a healthy, creative form of self medication, through the art of Derks.”

Order the book here

The publication is made possible with the support of Fonds BKVB (The Netherlands Foundation for Visual Arts, Design and Architecture). The project expanded in collaboration with LhGWR and the TodaysArt Festival.

Street Level Google Brings Some Serious Fun

A few days ago Garret Rogers of ZDnet wrote that Google would be launching a “street view” after he spotted some suspicious domain registration activity (see paragraph below):

On may 25th, Google registered several variations of the domain “googlestreetview.com” — normally Garret would think the feature would be months away, but given Where 2.0 starts on Tuesday, it will likely be available (or at least announced) by the end of the month. This functionality is likely in addition to the 3D buildings they are expected to announce at the same conference.

Below are the domains that were being snapped up by Google.

GOOGLE-MAPS-STREET-VIEW.COM
GOOGLE-MAPS-STREET-VIEW.NET
GOOGLE-MAPS-STREET-VIEW.ORG
GOOGLEMAPSSTREETVIEW.ORG
GOOGLESTREETVIEW.COM
GOOGLESTREETVIEW.NET
GOOGLESTREETVIEW.ORG)

Well, — indeed, that is what happened.

On may 30th,at the Where 2.0 conference, Google announced a feature in Google Maps that puts you in the drivers seat for 5 US cities including: San Francisco, Las Vegas, Denver, New York and Miami.

Those cities do not have complete coverage by any means, but the data provided by Immersive Media is sure to grow and improve as time goes on. It will be interesting to see if 3D buildings will be announced at the Where 2.0 conference tomorrow too.

OKAY, so now that Google has launched this, sites are popping up everywhere with street level images. It's clear that there are some bugs...but if anything, they make viewing the images even more amusing.

here's a few from Stan Schroeder, found on that awesome site, NOTCOT:
Top 15 Google Street View Sightings, May 31, 2007 — 11:05 AM PDT — by Stan Schroeder

Google’s Street View feature for Google Maps, which enables users to see certain parts of several big US cities through panoramic images, has caused a new trend: StreetSpotting (we just invented that). We’ve gone through the avalanche of reports about funny, weird or even sexy things spotted on Street View, and chosen 15 that we like most.

15. The Woz

Street named after Steve Wozniak. OK, it’s not such a big deal, but this is number 15, we’re just getting warmed up here, OK?

14. Speed Limit

The laws are there to be broken
Well, at least he’s not speeding by much.

13. The Void

And to your left, you can see the endless void that consumes all life. Please stick to the right side of the street.

12. Your face called…
…it wants its left side back.

11. He sees things we cannot see
The cameras that Google is using for this aren’t really working all that well.

10. Giant Pumpkin
It’s a giant pumpkin. Right there in the field. Turn the image 180 degrees for a weird pink smoky…thing, too.

09. The guy with no head.
This guy shouldn’t complain, at least it’s hard to identify him.

08. Semi-naked babe
We could open our web browser and find zillions of pictures of hot babes within seconds. In better quality. And more naked. But, there’s something about finding a blurry pic of a semi-naked babe drawn on a truck on Google Maps that makes our heart race.

07. The Internet sucks
“The Internet sucks, come here for your erotic needs”, they say. Well, is Tera Patrick being all naked and naughty in there? Is she? Didn’t think so.

06. Cornelius and his dog
There’s a sad background story to this one. Read it here.

05. Girls sunbathing
A couple of girls sunbathing on a lawn isn’t exactly spectacular, but it’s better than the blurry picture of the semi-naked babe on a truck.

04. Guy getting into the adult book store.
Hey, it could have been worse. He could have been going out of a strip club, or something.

03. Guy getting out of strip club
We’re gonna have to be honest here: the guy looks like he’s merely paying for parking. But, that’s a strip club behind him, and we will, of course, assume he just spent some sexy time with Mimi and Peaches. Is that a happy grin on his face? Sure it is.

02. Crime in progress
Maybe the guy just forgot his keys. Or he’s practicing for the free climbing contest. Hey, is that a lockpicking set dangling out of his pocket?

01. ET
Some might say it’s a lens flare. Some might argue it’s a camera malfunction. It’s the sunlight reflecting off the…lamp post…and a lens flare….and a camera malfunction, skeptics will yell!
But deep in your heart you all know it’s ET. Phooooone. Hooooome.

Another reader brought this link of photos to our attention:

As you see, technology doesn't only bring about conveniences and innovations, but online amusement as well.
Enjoy! And keep your eyes on the road!