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Google to Map San Francisco in 3D
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.""
Give them a break. They have to start somewhere after all.
Seems to me Google does some things simply for intellectual curiosity, then ends up figuring out a way to make money off it.
Yes, we did (eventually) get Froogle here in the UK, but I don't believe any of the other countries have. Google maps also arrived, but again, I don't believe it covers anywhere else.
Now you have satellite imagery and 3D maps and again the UK hope for it and the rest of Europe seems to be out on a limb.
I have no doubt that the UK will eventually see this stuff (as with the others) and for that I am thankful - however our friends elsewhere in Euroland I fear will never see the light of day of some of this rather cool products.
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I love the rest of the world and international types... but you gotta remember that every company thinks of their country and locale first.
Don't credit corporations with having deep rooted feelings of patriotism, you will be disappointed if you do. Every company (that is not being mismanaged) thinks about the most profitable market first so that it can bring the only people it truly cares about, the shareholders, managers and key employees, a good profit/reward. Google is launching this service in the US because they did their math and concluded it's the biggest and most profitable market.
Only to idiots, are orders laws.
-- Henning von Tresckow
Google is a US corporation, held by (wait for it) mostly US stockholders with most of its buisness interests and target market in the US.
As a corporation it is legaly bound to do what is best for its shareholders. While rolling out Google 3d Europe might be warm fuzzies, it's not necessarily the most exploitable market. Moreover, if you're going to test out an infrastructure heavy technology, why not do it in your home city (San Fran for Google)
This comes down to money. Google thinks this will make them more money than rolling out more features to Europe.... that's why.
Killfile(TGK)
No trees were killed in the creation of this post. However, many electrons were inconvenienced.
Yeah, a sense of proportion.
And a belt to strap down that jerking knee of yours.
Jesus Christ on a crutch - why is it everything in the US now has to be defined in terms of its potential utility to terrorism? Other countries have been putting up with terrorism for years (often with the US's implicit or explicit approval) without reigning in basic human rights like privacy and freedom, but the second you have a large-scale foreign terrorist action on the US mainland suddenly the FBI can unilaterally read your mail and harsh language is banned in case it's used by Teh Terr0ri5ts!!!!
Even after 9/11, you're still hundreds of thousands of times more likely to die in a car crash than from terrorist action. Why aren't you worrying about the implications of allowing anyone to buy a car without a background check, fingerprinting, surgically-embedded RFID tag and rectal swab on file?
Everything in moderation, including moderation itself
"I don't know about the rest of you, but how about a little privacy?"
What, you consider un-personally-attributable images merely of your building to be a privacy violation?
Dude, I hate to break it to you, but your privacy is being violated hundreds of times a day - they're called passers-by. You might want to spend some time on the corner of your lot with paper head-bags and a persuasive smile.
"There will be a great deal of abuse here. Imagine some girl gives out her phone number, or some guy finds it in a phone book."
Ignoring the sheer difficulty of doing reverse-lookups from phone number to address (which is made intentionally hard, for this very reason)...
"They find the address, they map it out. They even know what bushes to hide behind. Neat, tech helping pervs."
Right, and they can't do this with... oh, I dunno... a paper map? Or by, you know, walking past the house once or twice?
"I can see the mafia use this technology too. What to kill someone? How about a little research first. Lets see what roads lead to his house and away."
Right, 'cause the Mafia are always bumping off people left, right and centre round where I live. How about you?
And face it, any hitman or criminal who plans his crimes without first thoroughly casing the joint in real life first is a fucking retard.
And someone that fucking stupid is going to be caught pretty soon anyway when they realise sniper rifles don't flush.
You know, it's just occurred that you might be trolling - congrats if so, I utterly fell for it.
You were trolling, right?
Everything in moderation, including moderation itself