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Apple Campus Missing From MSN Earth

Posted by timothy on from the take-a-memo-take-a-joke dept.

webguru4god writes "The Register has an article detailing a significant omission from Microsoft's new Virtual Earth application. Apparently the satellite image view of 1 Infinite Loop in Cupertino, CA shows a large empty lot, whereas Google Maps shows the sprawling Apple campus. Hmmm, I wonder if the Google campus is missing too?"

18 of 413 comments (clear)

  1. It's just an old map by winkydink · · Score: 5, Informative

    The Microsoft picture is from pre-1994 as County Highway 85 does not exist south of Steven Creek Blvd. This part of the highway was opened in 1994. If you look closely, you can see that most of the land for the highway has been cleared, but none of it is paved.

    Before Apple, the campus was the HQ of the now-defunct Four Phase Systems. The buidling was sufficiently damaged in the earthquake on 17 Oct 1989, that it was abandoned and eventually razed.

    So much for conspiracy theories.

    --

    "I'd rather be a lightning rod than a seismometer." -Ken Kesey

    1. Re:It's just an old map by gryphokk · · Score: 2, Informative

      Interestingly enough, the Oklahoma data is relatively recent, about 1.5-2 yrs old.

      You can see the Oklahoma Memorial, where the Murrah Building stood until 1995. The memorial was created in roughly 1997-98, considerably later the the Apple campus. Also visible downtown is a new library built in ±2003. Not shown is the new federal building built in ±2004 to replace the Murrah building.

      --
      And you, madam, are very ugly. In the morning, I shall be sober.
    2. Re:It's just an old map by LordKronos · · Score: 2, Informative

      Makes me want to start searching for the seam between modern and 10 years old just to see if they try to blend them or just have a gross cut between them

      Well, I'm not sure on the dates of these, but here's a very obvious seam between black & white and color data (just a few miles from the Apple campus)

      http://virtualearth.msn.com/default.aspx?cp=37.328 429|-122.005218&style=a&lvl=17&v=1

    3. Re:It's just an old map by vought · · Score: 3, Informative

      Just a nit:

      Apple's "sprawling" campus is actually quite a bit smaller than it used to be. The buildings in the Santa Clara Valley are now clustered around the intersection of Mariani St. and De Anza Blvd.

      Instead of maintaining satellite buildings like customer service in Campbell and the printer and imaging group located in Sunnyvale, Apple pulled everything within a three-block radius of 1 Infinite Loop between 1996 and 1998. Just that single move seemed to wonders for corporate communications, although it was well underway when Steve came home.

      Compared to many other large tech companies in the valley, Apple's "campus" is relatively small, but tightly integrated. For example, not only is there an excellent restaraunt in place of the old "Cafe Macs", but there is a relatively decent brew pub with a cute name in the parking lot and another beer/TV joint across the street.

    4. Re:It's just an old map by RoceKiller · · Score: 2, Informative

      Here's the cut, a bit east of apple campus: http://mapcut.notlong.com/

  2. I estimate: 1989 by seanadams.com · · Score: 5, Informative

    Apple opened 1 Infinite Loop in 1991 - I remember the building went up very quickly but I don't think it took less than 2 yrs. Highway 85 from 280 to down to 101 opened in 1994 - major sections of it were paved and complete for almost a year before it opened though. If you zoom in on the area around Rainbow Drive you can see some sport where they've barely begun excavation - I think it was around 1987 when they "eminent domained" the last few nearby properties out of there.

    Scrolling around the map you can also see some condo complexes completely missing, which were build around that time.

    Based on these landmarks (and more) you can tell that MSN's data for cupertino and its surrounding area is over 15 years old! Pitiful!

  3. Down boy, Down! by AKAImBatman · · Score: 1, Informative

    I'm afraid that Microsoft didn't "delete" Apple, they just used data that's older than they are. My understanding is that Microsoft is using the USGS Topographical data, which tends to get updated whenever the USGS feels like it. Google, OTOH, uses proprietary data which is only a couple of years out of date (as opposed to decades).

    Nice conspiracy theory guys, but I'm afraid that the Register is just having fun getting you all worked up. :-)

    --
    Javascript + Nintendo DSi = DSiCade
  4. For the lazy... by op12 · · Score: 5, Informative

    MSN's map
    Google's Map

    1. Re:For the lazy... by br0ck · · Score: 3, Informative

      Also, for the lazy, the answer to:
      I wonder if the Google campus is missing too?

      Google
      MSN

      OMG, It appears to be a dirt field on Both! Shock! Awe! Conspiracy!

    2. Re:For the lazy... by op12 · · Score: 2, Informative

      When you're in the Google Map, hit "Link to this page" and the page will reload. In the address bar the part after ll= is the latitude and longitude.

  5. On Microsoft TerraServer by joeflies · · Score: 3, Informative

    The data of the same picture states that it was taken October 30, 1991

  6. Re:other things of note... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Informative

    Nope. Googles combined view was released before MSNs Virtual Earth, and I'm pretty sure that feature took more than couple days to implement. Competition? Yes - but it's quite obvious that MS is the one trying to chase Google.

  7. Re:I think that's just MS way by SmittyTheBold · · Score: 5, Informative

    The Terraserver stuff was around LONG before Google started offering satellit imagery. Microsoft most certainly did not copy that particular aspect from Google.

    --
    ± 29 dB
  8. They're from October 30, 1991 by inio · · Score: 3, Informative

    The MSN Earth photos are the same as TerraServerUSA, which says that the dataset in question was captured on October 30, 1991.

  9. Re:I think that's just MS way by BeerCat · · Score: 5, Informative

    I've also read in the Register that the Twin Towers from WTC are still there.

    Yup, still visible in the picture

    --
    "She's furniture with a pulse"
  10. Re:I think that's just MS way by tricorn · · Score: 4, Informative

    Google's is all over the place as far as high vs. low resolution images. Champaign-Urbana is in low-res, whereas there are a few high-res areas with tiny towns nearby (e.g. Homer or Downs ). Bloomington-Normal, just north-west of Downs, is surrounded on both sides by high-res blocks. In Peoria, East Peoria is low-res, West Peoria is high-res. Dawson, Buffalo and this little unnamed bundle of houses are the most interesting things in a mostly empty block of high-res, whereas Decatur just to the east is low-res.

    Most of Grand Junction is low-res (including my brother's house), but Redlands just to the west is in a strip of high-res.

    The center of Lake Tahoe is mostly high-res, whereas most of the surrounding area is low-res.

  11. Re:Now for Area 51... by Proudrooster · · Score: 2, Informative

    That's because Area 51 is restricted air space.. A NO FLY ZONE, you can't take aerial photographs if you can't fly over it. Google uses a Satellite so they can take pictures of everything :)

  12. Re:I think that's just MS way by cecil_turtle · · Score: 3, Informative

    IIRC, Microsoft started TerraServer basically as a showcase for SQL Server 2000. It's a double entendre for "terra" meaning earth and "tera" as in tera-byte, showing how much data SQL Server can handle. As far as I can tell, they're not selling anything.

    Check it out: terraserver.microsoft.com

    TerraServer is operated by the Microsoft Corporation as a research project for developing advanced database technology, and was born at the Microsoft Bay Area Research Center. TerraServer's foundation is Microsoft SQL Server 2000, the complete relational database management and analysis system for building scalable e-commerce, line-of-business, and data warehousing solutions.