It’s Google’s world, we just live in it. In the few months since its release, the search engine’s latest info-appliance - satellite photos searchable by address - has spawned dozens of inspired spinoffs. Here’s a look at some of the ways the hive mind is bending maps.google.com to its will.
5 Spins on Searchable Terrain
1. Armchair Travel
www.googleglobetrotting.com
What it does: Provides a gathering place for geo-geeks fascinated by landmarks, stadiums, theme parks, abandoned military installations, geologic anomalies, and the homes of the rich and famous.
What you see: Jackson’s Neverland Ranch (shown above), Disneyland, mothballed aircraft, the Playboy mansion - all annotated with comments from members.
What’s possible: Google Planet, travel guides that link to the-comments section for inside dope.
2. Scavenger Hunt
www.bloglander.com/scavengeroogle
What it does: Hosts an interactive game that challenges you to track down a location after studying a satellite image and poring over a few cryptic clues.
What you see: Buildings in the shape of a dog bone, a pier that looks like a question mark, a giant bell carved into farmland. Then you click over to Google maps and start searching for the needle in the haystack. Most puzzles are solved in less than an hour.
What’s possible: A new interactive reality show on Fox. Hey, didn’t Rupert Murdoch just say he finally got the Internet? Think Road Rules: Finding America’s Next Top Model.
3. Green Watching
www.mezzoblue.com/archives/2005/04/07/google_maps_/
What it does: Graphic designer Dave Shea uses satellite maps to look at the logging industry’s operations in British Columbia.
What you see: Clear-cut evidence of the devastation wrought by timber companies.
What’s possible: Sat coverage of Brazil so environauts can document rain forest destruction.
4. Close Encounter
www.livejournal.com/community/the_unexplained/37956.html
What it does: Gives you a tongue-in-cheek guided tour of the federally restricted Area 51.
What you see: Roads running into and out of a lake, strange green silos, and, um, not a sign of alien spacecraft.
What’s possible: The site may be disappeared. Check it out now before Google gets a visit from the G-men.
5. Digital Scrapbook
www.flickr.com/groups/memorymaps/pool/
What it does: Takes you on a satellite trip down memory lane.
What you see: Images of your old schools, houses, and other nostalgia that you can annotate with personal anecdotes.
What’s possible: A whole new range of genealogy software and an obsession for a generation of satellite-savvy grandmothers.
- Matthew Yeomans
Michael Jackson’s Neverland Ranch
Scavenger Hunt
Green Watching
Area 51
Digital Scrapbook
START
Keep It Down! I’m Trying to Work
Spawn of Google Maps
