Slashdot Mirror

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

Christmas Lights and Google Maps

Posted by ryuzaki0 on from the on-a-lighter-note dept.

Anonymous Coward writes "SantaStars.com uses the Google Maps API to show the locations of some great Christmas light displays. Everyone is encouraged to post a picture of their Christmas lights and you can vote for your favorites. Some of the houses are quite elaborate like this house in British Columbia that has 87,625 computer controlled lights synchronized to an FM radio station."

7 of 68 comments (clear)

  1. A day late and a dollar short? by XorNand · · Score: 3, Interesting

    It's Christmas Eve and there's only 37 houses listed? It would have made more sense to post this three weeks ago in order to get the word out.

    But not to scrooge anyone's Christmas fun, Here's a display put together by an electrical engineer in Ohio that's worth checking out (link goes to a .wmv. Also a Snopes article with more details).

    --
    Entrepreneur : (noun), French for "unemployed"
  2. warning by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny
    87,625 computer controlled lights synchronized to an FM radio station.


    Not for epileptics.

  3. New year's resolution by El_Muerte_TDS · · Score: 5, Funny

    [ ] Quit smoking
    [ ] Help the poor
    [ ] Feed the hungry
    [x] Buy more christmas lights

  4. Probably can be seen from space by craXORjack · · Score: 4, Interesting
    like this house in British Columbia that has 87,625 computer controlled lights synchronized to an FM radio station.

    Holy cow! Even if the average power consumption of each light was only 1/2 watt, that's still about 44KW. This guys power meter must by zinging around like a table saw.

    --
    Liberals call everyone Nazis yet they are the closest thing to it.
  5. Google maps lights? by Council · · Score: 3, Funny

    What we need is a christmas lights display that's visible on the zoomed-out Google Maps (hybrid or satellite) simply by virtue of brightness.

    --
    xkcd.com - a webcomic of mathematics, love, and language.
  6. More Re:xmas light geeks by Alien54 · · Score: 3, Informative

    There's a higher resolution version which is part of a Miller's Lite beer commercial

    --
    "It is a greater offense to steal men's labor, than their clothes"
  7. have mercy on neighbours by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Informative

    One of the unfortunate side effects of a big Xmas light display in the neighbourhood is the extra traffic. All kinds of people slow down in front of my house to see the lights next door. This is disturbing enough given the number of car engines rolling up and idling then roaring off. They also use my driveway to turn their vehicles around. This is annoying because (a) the sound of a car/truck roaring into drive; (b) headlights blasting through my windows as I am sitting/sleeping there; (c) tires compressing snow into ice on my drive -- these people drive over fresh snow and even any snow berm at the end of the drive left when the grader goes by.

    Please use some courtesy when you go to see lights!

    And if you are someone who puts lights on, please use some courtesy as well. My house is blasted by the huge number of lights across the street and we get all that extra traffic and annoyance. Please show some common sense and do NOT advertise it widely and do NOT run the lights week after week at all hours.