Google maps

[RWin]

I didn't notice until just now that the satellite images of Calgary seem to be better quality than before. Maybe last week was the last time I looked? Maybe longer. It seems you can zoom in as far as it will let you now without going blank and telling you that they don't have images for that zoom level in this region.

The images (or at least some) are new since last time too but still at least a few months out of date (maybe depending on the neighbourhood?).

Does anyone know when the street level views will start appearing?

[ummagumma66]

Google Earth shows the bow in a fairly recent stage, although I can't see the Favco cranes.

[mersar]

Bow still has the Wolff up in it, so combined with the green grass around I'd say they are using likely images from last September or so.

[frinkprof]

On another board it was pretty much determined to be Sunday, September 14th, 2008 at around 11AM. Based on:

Park N' Rides empty

Chuch lots full

Grass

Where various posters had their vehicles, taking into account when they were out of town, etc.

Time of day was based on shadowing, and when various churches had their services.

[feepa]

^ you know google earth gives you the date of the image right?

[frinkprof]

^Yeah that was pointed out after a bunch of people had already figured it out by process of elimination.

[ummagumma66]

I figured it was a Sunday... the East end of North Hill Centre, near SAIT was almost empty. lol

[Yume-sama]

:yes: The imaging is very nice.

But it missed my house having grass by a week :(

[freeweed]

^ you know google earth gives you the date of the image right?

Not for a lot of imagery. Like, say, the recent Calgary imagery.

At least not without substantial mucking about. But the base "date taken" info is most certainly not there when simply looking.

And now that I look at it, I can't actually see any DigitalGlobe layer that lines up with the September date. Not even close. However I know it's correct(ish) based on many things.

Oh yeah, and for those into this sort of thing, Google has had the Streetview cars in town this month. Supposedly imagery from that will be up in just a few weeks, but we'll see. Should be rather interesting.

[Stang]

Oh yeah, and for those into this sort of thing, Google has had the Streetview cars in town this month. Supposedly imagery from that will be up in just a few weeks, but we'll see. Should be rather interesting.

My parent's city in England just came online with streetview, and I was able to relive my vacation in Rome using streetview. Pretty interesting stuff, actually. I have never used it for anything other than browsing around, but I can imagine it can be useful if you want to check out a street or location prior to actually going there.

Just to keep the conversation going, what are people's thoughts on the privacy "issues" that have been raised? Obviously Google blurs as many faces as it can, and will do so on request if any are missed. I don't have a problem with as Google is gathering information from a public roadway and is documenting what people have the right to view in person and even photograph from that same public roadway.

Hopefully it caught me in my underwear while gazing out of the upstairs window while brushing my teeth. :D

[freeweed]

Just to keep the conversation going, what are people's thoughts on the privacy "issues" that have been raised? Obviously Google blurs as many faces as it can, and will do so on request if any are missed. I don't have a problem with as Google is gathering information from a public roadway and is documenting what people have the right to view in person and even photograph from that same public roadway.

Not to dwell on this, but I'm deeply disturbed by the concept, if not this particular implementation.

1. Visible in public and documented for worldwide viewing for the rest of history are two very, VERY different things. At least apples and oranges are still both fruit. Mass recorded surveillance is always a bad idea, period.

2. To those who use phrases such as "if you have nothing to hide..." - your opinion is hereby discarded. Everyone has something to hide. If you disagree, please feel free to install a camera in your bedroom that records your every move for the rest of the world to view.

3. (Invoking Godwin) Imagine if the Nazis or Soviets had this sort of data available once they came into power. Orwell wasn't kidding, and he wasn't exaggerating. If you doubt this in any way, ask folks in the Netherlands what they currently feel about having every citizen record their religion in a democratic government database.

All that aside, Streetview doesn't bug me too much compared to similar things. Maybe I just haven't seen the corporate world so carefully screw the masses over yet. I shudder to think of the possibilities if we ever see a less-than-perfect government in power.

There will be a lot of one-off cases about this, though. Blurred faces and plates don't do squat if you can be ID'd from your clothing, or if your car is in any way unique. Which applies to a surprising number of people.

[Stang]

Not to dwell on this, but I'm deeply disturbed by the concept, if not this particular implementation.

I think we can agree on the fact that the true extent of this sort of technology remains to be seen. The archival aspect is an interesting one, because who's to say that the material (original, un-blurred) couldn't be seized and used in investigations, etc. "Sorry - your alibi doesn't check out because the Google streetview truck shows you walking up to the door".

I am personally not too concerned about the whole thing - at least what Google is doing - I see it is an interesting evolution to mapping and navigation that is in itself pretty amazing. I have a reasonable expectation of privacy in my house and in my bedroom, and I don't feel that this infringes on it. I also think that the likelihood of being snapped by the Google truck as it drives by is a needle in a hay stack type of thing, let along doing something in public that would be illegal, inappropriate, etc.

The cynic in me, however, thinks that we all might be come a little too comfortable with being photographed, filmed, etc. and we, as a society, might become complacent to the whole idea and, as you made a reference to Orwell, could see it come back and bite us in the ass.

And you bet - if a government/regime ever saw a reason, be it Nazis or whoever, they'd have the means to either obtain it themselves, or force the provider to play along. I'm just not convinced that having a picture of my house, even with me visible in the frame, that is anywhere from months to years old, is going to help anyone round me up and throw me in the slammer.

But I'll admit that I'm maybe a bit naive about it at the same time - "who would want anything to do with little old me?"

Interesting stuff - kind of uncharted territory (pun kind of intended).

[Yume-sama]

When they start wanting to do 360 panoramas of my bedroom, I'll have a problem.

[freeweed]

I'm just not convinced that having a picture of my house, even with me visible in the frame, that is anywhere from months to years old, is going to help anyone round me up and throw me in the slammer.

I'm not either, but who knows what stupid (and potentially horrible) laws might come up in the future.

I'm not worried about the present - this stuff is all in public anyway. I'm worried about what happens when someone in the future adds Streetview to property ownership records, and applies that against some sort of hysteria that we can't even imagine now. Maybe we'll see a crusade against people who at one point owned SUVs or something. Had one parked in the driveway in the past 10 years? Off to the carbon offset camps for you!

Don't forget, even in supposedly "free" countries like the US, we had people's lives completely ruined over things they did 20 years in the past. Imagine a modern-day "Red Scare" over something stupid like what colour your hair was, or whether or not you had siding vs stucco on your house. Remember, in the 1930s no one in their right mind would possibly consider attending a political meeting to be somehow dangerous in the future. Most people would have laughed you out of the room if you had suggested anything of the sort.

Seems about as silly as worrying about the government knowing your religion (incidentally, most Canadians are happy as clams to report this even today), and yet here we are forgetting history on a regular basis.

Do I worry about Streetview? Not in the least. Do I worry about most people having zero clue about the possibilities? Absolutely.

[Stang]

Do I worry about Streetview? Not in the least. Do I worry about most people having zero clue about the possibilities? Absolutely.

I hear you. The same argument is true for a lot of other digital media on the web too - it stays around for a long, long time. I'm sure that quite a few people have already been burned by the messages they posted on Facebook in the past, the drunken party photos they post on Flickr, etc. There is an increasing acceptance of making your private life public, especially among the younger internet users.

[frinkprof]

I hear you. The same argument is true for a lot of other digital media on the web too - it stays around for a long, long time. I'm sure that quite a few people have already been burned by the messages they posted on Facebook in the past, the drunken party photos they post on Flickr, etc. There is an increasing acceptance of making your private life public, especially among the younger internet users.
Yeah, totally agree with this. Myspace, Facebook, Twitter, message boards. It isn't hard to piece together tidbits of information people voluntarily provide to the public-at-large and put them together and use them against that person. Many employers are known to google someone's name before hiring or browse Facebook. Personally, keeping "connected" isn't as important as keeping a lot to myself... as I type this on a very active message board.

Skim through this thread (http://forums.beyond.ca/st/258351/help-scammed-by-beyond-member-apexi-r-jeremy-mani/) from beyond.ca, a Calgary automotive enthusiast forum. Colesnotes: 2 guys agree, on the forum, to a sale of a 80GB PS3 and accessories for $300, guy A gets it home, realizes it's a 40GB not 80GB, wants his money back, guy B won't agree to meet. Guy A posts this thread looking for suggestions on what to do, various forum members do some googling/facebooking, etc. and find his name, home address, all phone numbers, place of work, car make/model, several pictures which are then photoshopped and posted elsewhere on the internet, etc. Other forum members then post fake kijiji ads soliciting intimate homosexual encounters using all this information, creating a smearing campaign on Facebook, do prank phone calls, various threats of showing up at his home or workplace to "influence" him to follow up and correct this scam, etc.

This was all over $300, or really whatever the monetary difference between a 40GB and an 80GB PS3 is. So in a week this kid goes from making a simple life mistake to having the top Google results of his name make him out to be a monster, and having, by his own account, hundreds of phone calls a day looking for gay sex or asking about fake marketplace listings. The guy certainly didn't do himself any favours in the matter, but still.

Anyway, bit of an involved example, but an ex-girlfriend or an old high-school classmate that had it out for you could do a lot just with the 1000+ Facebook pictures that some people have posted for all to see.


--------------------

Way off-topic with that last bit.

With regard to Google Earth and Street View, or really the public availability of it, I think Freeweed has a point that it has potentially bad consequences in the future. Whether those consequences are realized or not is something else.

Another thing is the balance between having the information current enough to use for navigation in a city that changes as much as Calgary does (new roads, changed alignments/traffic control devices, etc.) and being so current that it can potentially be used more to surveil and monitor people more closely and accurately.

[Ramsayfarian]

A little known fact, the original street view camera was invented here in Calgary.

[Wooster]

yes, that's true. I wish Canada would finally allow streetview for our cities. It's an awesome tool!

[freeweed]

yes, that's true. I wish Canada would finally allow streetview for our cities. It's an awesome tool!

It's happening in Calgary and Winnipeg (at the least) as we speak.

[Stang]

It's happening in Calgary and Winnipeg (at the least) as we speak.

I saw the Google car parked at the Superstore on Country Hills and Sarcee at about 4:00 pm. It had a cover over the "hardware" but it was still pretty obvious.

So yes - they most certainly are doing it as we speak.

[freeweed]

Pretty sure my car will be on Streetview. I noticed these really strange poles sticking up in traffic, and sure enough, 2 of Google's contraptions were driving down Deerfoot right by me. I kept next to one of them for quite a while so here's hoping I can have my 15 nanoseconds of fame.

I wonder why they travel in pairs, and how many "shoots" they do of a given street. I can imagine wanting more than just a single shot (just in case), but I wonder how many is adequate to make sure they have good coverage.

For anyone who hasn't seen the cars, they have a 4-5' high post mounted on the roof, and that's what the camera is on. You really can't miss it.

[Ramsayfarian]

Pretty sure my car will be on Streetview. I noticed these really strange poles sticking up in traffic, and sure enough, 2 of Google's contraptions were driving down Deerfoot right by me. I kept next to one of them for quite a while so here's hoping I can have my 15 nanoseconds of fame.

I wonder why they travel in pairs, and how many "shoots" they do of a given street. I can imagine wanting more than just a single shot (just in case), but I wonder how many is adequate to make sure they have good coverage.

For anyone who hasn't seen the cars, they have a 4-5' high post mounted on the roof, and that's what the camera is on. You really can't miss it.


If they were traveling in pairs they were probably headed to separate destinations. From what I understand they just drive down and video a street once, no need for multiple passes. The video is then chopped up into still photos.

Here's the Calgary company that originally had the deal with Google. Their demos are worth checking out. There's some real cool technology going on there.

http://www.immersivemedia.com/#demo0

[Ramsayfarian]

Best google street view shot ever!!!

http://img9.imageshack.us/img9/4941/googlemapstits.jpg

[SKYSTHELIMIT]

I'm heading out on a huge road trip this summer hitting Minneapolis,Milwaukee,Chicago,Cleveland and New York and this Google street view is awesome for planning the trip in detail I have found freeway ramps and looked at how certain approaches are done (right lane or left) to finding a parking garage close to one destination. Come to think of it I should just have my girl come over and we can do the whole trip from the computer:haha:

[DavidKuitunen]

i got my picture taken by a google car yesterday on ridge road while working

[dennis]

I was caught on google street view today. The car drove in the opposite direction from me. (intersection of Manitoba highway 59 and the perimeter hwy around Winnipeg - Hwy 101)

[McMahon]

Has everybody seen the new feature on Google Earth? All their previous satellite images are now available (back to Apr 2002 for Calgary) and you can switch between then and now (and anytime in between) to compare and contrast what's happened in 7 years.

Some of the interesting things for me were that there were still a few houses in Victoria Park back then. I also never realised a whole load of houses were taken out when Glenmore Trail was upgraded. It's also crazy to see what was there before they built the Evergreen suburb.

[Ferreth]

Updated list of places Google is driving in Canada for Street View, from their Canadian FAQ (http://maps.google.ca/intl/en/help/maps/streetview/faq.html#q8):


Province City / Ville

Alberta Calgary, Edmonton, Lethbridge

British Columbia Abbotsford, Kelowna, Vancouver, Victoria

Manitoba Winnipeg

New Brunswick Moncton, Saint John

Nova Scotia Halifax

Ontario Barrie, Brantford, Guelph, Hamilton, Kingston, Kitchener, London, Oshawa, Ottawa, St. Catharines-Niagara, Thunder Bay, Toronto, Windsor

Prince Edward Island Charlottetown

Quebec Montreal, Quebec City, Saguenay, Sherbrooke, Trois-Rivières

Saskatchewan Regina, Saskatoon

I am sooo looking forward to that release, being delayed by the Gov't ethics committee, according to this CBC article (http://www.cbc.ca/canada/story/2009/06/17/tech-google-street-view.html).

[Ramsayfarian]

THE HAGUE, Netherlands - Dutch police have arrested twin brothers on suspicion of robbery after their alleged victim spotted a picture of them following him on Google's Street View map application, a spokesman said Friday.

Paul Heidanus, a police spokesman in the town of Groningen, said he believed it was the first time Street View images had been used in a Dutch criminal investigation.

"For us, it is unique," he said.
Story continues below ↓advertisement | your ad here

A 14-year-old boy told police last September he had been robbed of euro165 ($230) and his cell phone after two men dragged him off his bicycle in Groningen,110 miles northeast of the capital, Amsterdam.

The victim called again in March after seeing an image of himself and two men he believed were his attackers on Street View, police said in a statement.

Heidanus said prosecutors sent a formal request to Google for the original photo because people's faces are blurred on Street View.

"You must tell Google clearly why you want them," Heidanus said of the photo request. In this case, "the photo could provide an important contribution to solving a crime."

The company complied, and a robbery squad detective immediately recognized one of the twins.

Prosecutors will now decide whether to charge the suspects, whose identities were not released.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/31448232/ns/technology_and_science-tech_and_gadgets/

[Architype]

Province City / Ville

Alberta Calgary, Edmonton, Lethbridge

British Columbia Abbotsford, Kelowna, Vancouver, Victoria

Manitoba Winnipeg

New Brunswick Moncton, Saint John

Nova Scotia Halifax

Ontario Barrie, Brantford, Guelph, Hamilton, Kingston, Kitchener, London, Oshawa, Ottawa, St. Catharines-Niagara, Thunder Bay, Toronto, Windsor

Prince Edward Island Charlottetown

Quebec Montreal, Quebec City, Saguenay, Sherbrooke, Trois-Rivières

Saskatchewan Regina, Saskatoon

Notice which is the only province left out. A##%!les !

[Ramsayfarian]

I was sitting on the patio at Tazza the other day and the google street view car went by three different times. East to west, west to east and north to south. Downside, I was sitting with a fat chick. :)

Last couple of days, there's been a street view car parked over night on the driveway of a house on Spiller road. They take the decals off and cover the camera with a custom made tarp, but it's pretty obvious what it is. If it's there tonight I'll try and get a snap or two.

[Bigtime]

Last couple of days, there's been a street view car parked over night on the driveway of a house on Spiller road. They take the decals off and cover the camera with a custom made tarp, but it's pretty obvious what it is. If it's there tonight I'll try and get a snap or two.

I saw it there on Saturday evening.

[nick.flood]

There was a case, possibly in the U.S. where a man was attacked by his neighbour's dog and he took his neighbour to court. The neighbour claimed in court that he didn't own his dog on the day of the attack.

The man brought forth a google streetview image that showed the neighbour on his front lawn with the dog on a specific day that was before the attack.

[Ferreth]

---
Alberta
Calgary, Edmonton, Lethbridge
.
British Columbia
Abbotsford, Kelowna, Vancouver, Victoria
.
Manitoba
Winnipeg
.
New Brunswick
Moncton, Saint John
.
Newfoundland and Labrador
St. John's
.
Northwest Territories
Yellowknife
.
Nova Scotia
Cape Breton, Halifax
.
Ontario
Barrie, Brantford, Guelph, Hamilton, Kingston, Kitchener, London, Oshawa, Ottawa, Peterborough, St. Catharines-Niagara, Thunder Bay, Toronto, Windsor
.
Prince Edward Island
Charlottetown
.
Quebec
Montreal, Quebec City, Saguenay, Sherbrooke, Trois-Rivières
.
Saskatchewan
Regina, Saskatoon
.
Yukon Territory
Whitehorse

from http://maps.google.ca/help/maps/streetview/faq.html#q8

Also

Please note that this schedule is subject to change due to weather conditions or technical and operational reasons. Smaller cities may be driven by Street View vehicles during transit and/or when neighboring the cities mentioned above. This list will be updated on a regular basis

Cool that they even are going to the NWT and the Yukon now. I'm willing to be patient if the coverage is going to be extensive enough - wondering if the "during transit" thing will mean they will cover highways in between cities?

[thager]

free hotdog's
http://maps.google.ca/maps?f=q&source=s_q&hl=en&geocode=&q=calgary&sll=45.521503,-73.615952&sspn=0.112576,0.308647&dirflg=r&date=09%2F12%2F04&time=00:31&ttype=dep&noexp=0&noal=0&sort=&tline=&ie=UTF8&hq=&hnear=Calgary,+Division+No.+6,+Alberta&ll=51.046686,-114.062883&spn=0.000796,0.002411&t=h&z=19&layer=c&cbll=51.046493,-114.062894&panoid=nD9GQ7LyH9SBThR1Mos1-Q&cbp=12,146.64,,2,8.88

[frinkprof]

^free hotdog's what?

[thager]

un-manned hotdog stand, serve yourself

[frinkprof]

^Yeah I know. I was poking fun at the grammar. Kind of douchey of me.

I bet you that flag person on the sign would beat you down if you tried to take one of the hot dogs though.

[Ferreth]

Looks like new Cities went up for Streetview Canada. Offhand I see added:

Edmonton
Saskatoon
Kitchener
Sudbury
London
Hamilton
St. Johns
and more!

[Ramsayfarian]

Google Earth now offers 3-D street view of NYC
4k2_HHrk8Y8

[freeweed]

Yeah, the 3D stuff came out on April 1st. A lot of the more recent imagery has it. Good old red/blue glasses to the rescue!

[lubicon]

Yeah, the 3D stuff came out on April 1st. A lot of the more recent imagery has it. Good old red/blue glasses to the rescue!

I noticed that on some shots from around Calgary. Tried the glasses that I kept from the local theatre and they didn't make any difference, but they are not the red/blue type. Or maybe mu computer just wasn't up to the task.

[freeweed]

I noticed that on some shots from around Calgary. Tried the glasses that I kept from the local theatre and they didn't make any difference, but they are not the red/blue type. Or maybe mu computer just wasn't up to the task.

Theatre glasses (modern ones, anyway) work based on polarization of the lenses, which separates the left/right images.

Streetview 3D (at least when I looked at it) works based on the oldschool red/blue filtering to separate the images.

Neither is compatible in any way.

Back in the day I played with PC-based 3D that uses shutters to achieve the same effect, if you don't mind the splitting headache from the flickering. Also incompatible with the 2 methods above - plus, you needed special glasses that plugged into your video card (to provide power and control timing). And software support for it.

I don't even know if you can have 3D come out of your computer that works on the polarization trick. I thought you had to have 2 separate projectors for this to work.

[whiteford]

Best google street view shot ever!!!

http://img9.imageshack.us/img9/4941/googlemapstits.jpg

thats one horny satellite. haha

[Ferreth]

I just happened to check Streetview this evening in Sunalta, and see this shiny new LRT station sitting there all of a sudden - that can mean only one thing - the new images for Calgary are live! Now, if only they could update the aerial images, I'd be a happy camper!

http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8209/8225406591_7c5c780fae_b.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/ferreth/8225406591/)
Sunalta Streetview (http://www.flickr.com/photos/ferreth/8225406591/) by ferreth (http://www.flickr.com/people/ferreth/), on Flickr (Source, Google)

[Rusty van Reddick]

Great find! they got my house right after our bushes were trimmed back in April :)

[Wigs]

The resolution of Google Streetview has improved dramatically! Thanks for the update. I'm going to have many hours of fun in the future travelling virtually around the city :D

[Ramsayfarian]

Whilst I'm glad that there's an update, I'm kind of sad that I no longer appear in Street View. I now know how Marty McFly felt when he started to vanish from his family portrait.

[Trans Canada]

Google Maps was recently revamped, including integration between "satellite view" and "Earth view" (now integrated into one). Earth View now includes everything in 3d, it's really cool. If you have the new Google Maps enabled, check this: https://www.google.ca/maps/@51.0480856,-114.046007,220a,35y,270h,78.05t/data=!3m1!1e3. Based on how Google Maps/Earth has advanced in the past 5 years, I can only imagine how this will improve in the future.


Whilst I'm glad that there's an update, I'm kind of sad that I no longer appear in Street View. I now know how Marty McFly felt when he started to vanish from his family portrait.Street View now lets you look at all previous Street View images. See http://googleblog.blogspot.ca/2014/04/go-back-in-time-with-street-view.html

[Fuzz]

I saw the street view car downtown last week, so expect updated images in the next few months.

[Ferreth]

While I love all of these upgrades, I really wish Google would finally get high resolution imagery of our National Parks, especially Banff/Jasper. I've bugged Google about it from the POV of getting all of the world's Heritage Sites covered in high rez.

[Ramsayfarian]

Google Maps was recently revamped, including integration between "satellite view" and "Earth view" (now integrated into one). Earth View now includes everything in 3d, it's really cool. If you have the new Google Maps enabled, check this: https://www.google.ca/maps/@51.0480856,-114.046007,220a,35y,270h,78.05t/data=!3m1!1e3. Based on how Google Maps/Earth has advanced in the past 5 years, I can only imagine how this will improve in the future.


Street View now lets you look at all previous Street View images. See http://googleblog.blogspot.ca/2014/04/go-back-in-time-with-street-view.html

Thanks for the reminder, I saw that earlier, but forgot to check it out. Went to see if I'm back from the dead and I have. Kind of strange though, the one section where I am has reverted back to 2009, but the piece before or after is 2012. I can't change my section from 2009 to 2012.

Obviously some type of glitch in the matrix.