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Russian Town Puts Giant Smiley On Google Maps

Posted by samzenpus on from the working-together dept.

Toramir writes "Citizens of the Russian town Chelyabinsk calculated when the satellite, QuickBird, which takes images for Google Earth and Google Maps, would cross above their city and used people to make a giant smiley face. A rock concert on the main square attracted many people and everyone got a yellow cape. It looks like someone at Google was quicker than usual to put up the new data. Maybe Google likes the idea of an entire town working hard to get its 15 minutes of fame. The article has a screenshot of Google Maps and images taken directly at the event."

10 of 280 comments (clear)

  1. Re:It's a bad photoshop by alain94040 · · Score: 4, Insightful

    To be fair, since the other pictures look authentic, I'd say the meeting really happened. It's just that Google wasn't fast enough to record it. That shows you a limitation of Google :-) There are still a few things you can do without Google noticing right away.

    Alain - fairsoftware.net

  2. Re:Fake images by maglor_83 · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Never mind the fact that they say they timed when the satellite would come over, but it's an aerial photo.

    Also, they did a similar thing on James May's 20th Century, where he made a giant space invader to be captured on a satellite image.

  3. In sovied russia, tech.slashdot is the new idle by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

    I had hoped idle would stay confined to idle. This is not technology.

    This ... is ... IDLE!!! </300>

  4. Re:It's a bad photoshop by darkonc · · Score: 3, Insightful
    Well, if it was overcast when they had the concert, it may be that they timed it right for the satellite overpass, but the clouds made it almost useless for google's purposes. They just didn't realize that they needed to coordinate according to both satellite overpass times and weather forcasts.

    Nice try, though.

    --
    Sometimes boldness is in fashion. Sometimes only the brave will be bold.
  5. Re:Lenina? by at_slashdot · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Read about "ad hominem argument" in a dictionary. How is it relevant what I am?

    --
    "It is our choices, Harry, that show what we truly are, far more than our abilities." -- Prof. Dumbledore
  6. Re:It's a GOOD photoshop by Myrcutio · · Score: 2, Insightful

    correction: it's a good photoshop, because it fooled us enough to dig deeper. i think they succeeded in their prank marvelously.

  7. Re:Fake images by easyTree · · Score: 5, Insightful

    I'd much rather just see a stream of images from what is actually happening and make up my own mind. There less editorial control the better.

    Perhaps you've forgotten that the purpose of news isn't to inform, it's to coerce opinion.

    --
    Requiem for the American Dream
  8. Re:Fake images by Hal_Porter · · Score: 2, Insightful

    No, the purpose of a TV channel is to sell adverts, make the journalists feel important and not tell the viewers anything that might upset their world view. It's actually quite the opposite of trying to coerce opinion, I actually think there's an element of karma whoring going on.

    --
    echo -e 'global _start\n _start:\n mov eax, 2\n int 80h\n jmp _start' > a.asm; nasm a.asm -f elf; ld a.o -o a;
  9. The most irradiated smiley on Earth by Frantactical+Fruke · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Someone probably felt that Chelyabinsk could use some positive publicity for a change, as they have so far only been known as the "Most Contaminated Spot on the Planet": http://www.logtv.com/films/chelyabinsk/
    ...which is why I'm graciously refraining from posting that link...now why do I suddenly get Boy George singing Karma Chameleon in my poor skull?

  10. And maybe it was just because its something nice ? by unity100 · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Maybe Google likes the idea of an entire town working hard to get its 15 minutes of fame

    goddamn everything doesnt need to be negative, you know. maybe someone thought it was something fuckin' nice to happen, and people to see ?

    i like our culture, but this 'sarcastic pessimistic know-it-all zit' thing sometimes fails badly. gets tiring.

    --
    Read radical news here