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Google to Map San Francisco in 3D

Posted by samzenpus on from the topographical-internet dept.

mtz206 writes "SiliconValleyWatcher reports that "Google plans to use trucks equipped with lasers and digital photographic equipment to create a realistic 3D online version of San Francisco, and eventually other major US cities. The move would trump Amazon's A9 service, which offers two-dimensional photos of buildings on US city streets.""

4 of 267 comments (clear)

  1. There is already a virtual London project at UCL by charlie_vernacular · · Score: 5, Informative

    At the risk of sounding like an advert (and apologies to those who feel that I do), the Centre for Advanced Spatial Analysis (CASA) at University College London is building a 3D GIS-based model of London that will and can be used to help the public explore different urban planning outcomes (amongst other things).

    About Virtual London here:

    http://www.casa.ucl.ac.uk/research/virtuallondon.h tm

    About CASA's research here:

    http://www.casa.ucl.ac.uk/research/index.htm

    Declaration of Interest: Professor Mike Batty, who runs CASA, was one of my PhD supervisors.

  2. Colossal waste of money? by ruckerz2k · · Score: 2, Informative

    Big question, why? They could instead improve the accuracy of their google maps, which puts my house nearly a block and a half away of where it should be. Then again, we pay USGS to map out GPS maps... but I can't see the point in mapping out 3D maps.

  3. Re:A strange sight by JUSTONEMORELATTE · · Score: 2, Informative

    Alternately, if you want to build a terror-truck equiped with lasers and such, just paint a colorful "Google" logo on the side and you'll be able to drive wherever you want.

  4. Re:Patent your house brick arrangement by th1nk · · Score: 2, Informative

    Ignoring the sheer difficulty of doing reverse-lookups from phone number to address (which is made intentionally hard, for this very reason)...

    Sheer difficulty? If you type a listed land-line number into Google, it will display the name and address associated with that number.