Slashdot Mirror

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

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."

73 of 280 comments (clear)

  1. You know what... by incognito84 · · Score: 5, Funny

    In Soviet Russia, satellite smiles at you!

    1. Re:You know what... by Nabeel_co · · Score: 5, Informative

      Yeah this is fake. It's not actually on google maps... Take a look: http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&geocode=&q=Tscheljabinsk+Russland&ie=UTF8&cd=1&ll=55.16035,61.402127&spn=0.004952,0.007499&t=h&z=17

    2. Re:You know what... by BountyX · · Score: 4, Interesting

      This has already been done before by the NSA. In an abandoned NSA base, people found US satellites with smiley faces painted on them. The nsa would time it in sync with russian spy satellites. See http://www.xent.com/FoRK-archive/2001.01/0188.html which is actually an exert from the book "Chatter".

      --
      Trying to install linux on my microwave, but keep getting a kernel panic...
  2. Google will have to remove the pic by zappepcs · · Score: 5, Funny

    or the copyright owners of the smiley face will issue a DMCA take down notice.

    Whether that would really happen or not, the news has become so much like the Onion that I kind of expect asshattery like that.

    --
    Support NYCountryLawyer RIAA vs People
    1. Re:Google will have to remove the pic by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

      the copyright owners of the smiley face will issue a DMCA take down notice.

      In Soviet Russia, smiley face owns copyright on DMCA!

      In future Soviet USA, they skip take down notice. Instead send you straight to a DMCA Forced Work Camp in Alaska. Where you will transcribe entire works of Disney, by hand.

  3. In soviet Russia.. by 278MorkandMindy · · Score: 5, Funny

    In soviet Russia, we know when the American satellites are coming!

    1. Re:In soviet Russia.. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Funny

      You do not know when the toilet paper is coming!

  4. But where is it? by cmaxwell · · Score: 3, Informative

    I don't see it on Google Maps:
    http://tinyurl.com/butwhereisit

    Up close and personal - the long version:
    http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&geocode=&q=+Chelyabinsk+&ie=UTF8&ll=55.159908,61.402202&spn=0.001906,0.005686&t=h&z=18&iwloc=addr

  5. Re:Where exactly? by sivax · · Score: 5, Informative

    http://maps.google.com/maps?q=55.166667,61.4&ie=UTF8&ll=55.159688,61.402395&spn=0.005522,0.013089&t=h&z=17&iwloc=addr Not there now?

  6. Re:Where exactly? by evanbd · · Score: 3, Informative

    Here is the spot in the screenshot. No smiley, though.

  7. Fake images by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Informative

    You can see the search used in the image. Search for for 'Tscheljabinsk, russia' and zoom in. You can see that you end up in the same square, but there is no smiley there!

    Also: cars were removed from the image close to the square, but they're in the same locations further away. Light hits the image from the same angle, which means same time and date difference from equinox).

    1. Re:Fake images by 4D6963 · · Score: 5, Informative

      Furthermore the fake screenshot depicts the very exact same thing as the rooftop picture. What's more pathetic, that they actually did it but not for when Google would actually shoot (is there even any way to actually know that?) or that the Slashdot "editors" didn't even see that coming.

      I guess that's Journalism 2.0, in which it's the user who does the editor's job of spotting the bullshit.

      --
      You just got troll'd!
    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. Re:Fake images by Hal_Porter · · Score: 5, Interesting

      I guess that's Journalism 2.0, in which it's the user who does the editor's job of spotting the bullshit.

      Is this really a bad thing though? I first watched CNN during the first gulf war. They were kind of dumb, but they had people on the ground in Baghdad and those people stuck their cameras out of the window and sounded scared but enthusiastic. Every time there was a crisis they'd fly someone out there and broadcast anything cool they filmed. There wasn't much attempt at analysis, but it was still pretty interesting

      Now when I watch CNN they seemed to have far more stuff back home. Every half our or so they run an advert for CNN "Eco Solutions" which is the opposite of journalism - they know the story before the leave the office and select reports that fit it. There are far more talking heads back in the studio repeating conventional wisdom from the US. Frankly this is boring - I don't care what middle class Americans believe is happening.

      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.

      --
      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;
    4. 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
    5. 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;
    6. Re:Fake images by easyTree · · Score: 4, Funny

      No, the purpose of a cinema is to sell popcorn. It's actually quite the opposite of karma whoring.

      --
      Requiem for the American Dream
    7. Re:Fake images by Nutria · · Score: 2

      They were kind of dumb

      1GW was when I realized how completely stupid most reporters are, and how in over their heads they were when dealing with military issues, asking questions like, "so which units are going to attack, and where?".

      --
      "I don't know, therefore Aliens" Wafflebox1
    8. Re:Fake images by catwh0re · · Score: 2, Interesting
      I wouldn't think a satellite would get the required resolution for a crowd of people standing around in yellow capes.

      That sounds more like the google aerial photography. For which Google, as they did in Australia, specifically issues a press release and an online tool to track the location of the plane so the general population could form interesting assemblies to be later viewed on google maps.

  8. ÐzÑÐнÑOE Ñ...& by gblackwo · · Score: 5, Informative

    ÐÑо? ÐÑ Ð½Ð ÐонÐмÐÐÑÐ Ðо-ÑÑfÑÑÐÐ? ÑмоÑÑÐ Ð google ÐÐÑÐÐоÐ! ÐоРWow, seriously no cyrillic on slashdot? What is this the 90's?

  9. It's a bad photoshop by Rufus211 · · Score: 5, Informative

    Compare these two:
    http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_IeJHb-2CVGM/SNUFiyTlEHI/AAAAAAAAAIQ/shQMNh5h89o/s1600-h/smiley-1000.jpg
    http://maps.google.com/maps?q=tscheljabinsk+russland&ie=UTF8&oe=utf-8&client=iceweasel-a&t=h&ll=55.160037,61.403425&spn=0.004793,0.011179&z=17

    The cars on all the side streets and all the shadows are exactly the same. Someone just photoshoped out the cars on the main street and put in the smily. Nothing to see here.

    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: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.
    3. Re:It's a bad photoshop by gsslay · · Score: 4, Informative

      Except that the high resolution photographs on google are not taken by satellite. They're aerial photographs.

      So the entire exercise was based on a fiction, and the organisers probably knew this.

  10. Mad by xPsi · · Score: 4, Funny

    Very creative. But were they going for the Alfred E. Neuman look? Probably should have put the stage below the chin. Still love it. Perhaps more with the missing tooth.

    --
    i\hbar\dot{\psi}=\hat{H}\psi
    1. Re:Mad by darkonc · · Score: 2, Interesting

      They could have always camoed the stage..... But I kinda like the Alfred E. Neuman look.

      --
      Sometimes boldness is in fashion. Sometimes only the brave will be bold.
  11. Re:Where exactly? by MarkRose · · Score: 4, Funny

    Way to frown on the happy parade! :(

    --
    Be relentless!
  12. Lenina? by at_slashdot · · Score: 2, Interesting

    Do they still celebrate Lenin as a hero after the crap they endured because of him and his acolytes?

    --
    "It is our choices, Harry, that show what we truly are, far more than our abilities." -- Prof. Dumbledore
    1. 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
    2. Re:Lenina? by at_slashdot · · Score: 2, Funny

      Palin is a heroine. She once drilled oil with her bare hands.

      --
      "It is our choices, Harry, that show what we truly are, far more than our abilities." -- Prof. Dumbledore
    3. Re:Lenina? by shutdown+-p+now · · Score: 4, Informative
      Some do.

      Anyway, almost every city in Russia still has Sovetskaya street and the Lenin square (complete with a statue). My own home town, Tambov, also has Karl Marx street, Komsomolskaya street etc. Some streets that were named after the more odious figures were renamed in the 90s (one was named after Antonov-Ovseenko, who was the commissar in charge of suppressing the anti-communist Tambov peasant rebellion in 1920s, and personally signed the order to use poison gas against the rebel), but most of the "generic" names were left untouched.

  13. 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>

  14. hmm by thatskinnyguy · · Score: 4, Funny

    Obvious Photoshop job. For punishment, I think we can all work together and put him over his bandwidth cap.

    --
    The game.
  15. In Soviet Russia... by FlyByPC · · Score: 5, Funny

    ... Google searches for YOU!

    --
    Paleotechnologist and connoisseur of pretty shiny things.
  16. Re:Where exactly? by brian_tanner · · Score: 5, Interesting

    It's worth mentioning that if you zoom in on Google maps and compare the two pictures, it seems that the parked cars and traffic from outside of the immediate smiley area are exactly the same. It appears as if the smiley was photoshopped in or out of one of the pictures.

    Hmmm.

  17. Yes, Lenina by tetromino · · Score: 5, Informative

    If a town or a street got renamed during the Soviet period, after 1992 its name was in most cases restored to the pre-revolutionary version. However, if the street was built during the Soviet period, of course it would not get renamed, since it never had a pre-Soviet name in the first place. Renaming a street just because its name is no longer politically fashionable is akin to rewriting history, no better than what the Soviets were doing.

    1. Re:Yes, Lenina by ubercam · · Score: 2, Informative

      Sure they did! All over the place.

      As an example, Platz der deutschen Einheit, Kassel (Square of German Unity) used to be called Adolf-Hitler-Platz. That's what a friend of mine who lives there told me.

      I mean come on, if you lived on Hilterallee, Goebbelsstraße or Mengeleplatz, wouldn't you want it changed too?

      Not only that, the East German city of Chemnitz was renamed to Karl-Marx-Stadt during communism, but reverted to the previous name after the wall fell. Same with Eisenhüttenstadt, which was renamed to Stalinstadt.

      I'm sure there are way more examples, but that's all I could come up with in 2 minutes.

  18. Overcast and that's not how it works by Chairboy · · Score: 5, Interesting

    There's about 20 "I don't see it in Google Maps" and "It was photoshopped!" posts that don't mention any of the basic reasons why this didn't work.

    1. Google Maps isn't realtime, some areas have photos updated every few years. My house is a picture from over a year ago, for instance. Just because the bird goes overhead doesn't mean the content goes into Google Maps, and even if it did, it would only go in for a few days until the next pass, so... concept fail.

    2. Did anyone actually LOOK at the photos taken on the ground at the event? It was OVERCAST. These are not magical Star Trek satellites with super inverse polaron field vision that sees through clouds.

    Why aren't other folks touching on these VERY BASIC FLAWS with the clever premise?

  19. Re:Where exactly? by Hal_Porter · · Score: 5, Funny

    For those who absolutely refused to read the article, here is an artist's impression

    : )

    --
    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;
  20. Re:Where is it? by TobyRush · · Score: 4, Funny

    No... wait... I see it! You kind of have to focus your eyes on a point behind the picture.

    --
    Sam! If you will let me be,
    I will try them.
    You will see.
  21. Re:Where exactly? by Wanado · · Score: 2, Funny

    It appears as if the smiley was photoshopped in or out of one of the pictures.

    Yes, it appears as if the smiley may have been added to the image using Adobe Photoshop software. Adobe Trademark Use

    --
    Somehow along the way I made a bad choice in life and now must live with 0 Karma.
  22. 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.

  23. Re:It's a GOOD photoshop by Rufus211 · · Score: 2, Informative

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

    Fooling a /. "editor" doesn't make it a good photoshop. It took me about a second to realize it was a hoax, and less than 30 more to look up the above link. I guess that was a bit too much effort for samzenpus.

  24. This was exciting... for about 5 minutes by puzzbot · · Score: 2, Interesting

    I was pretty excited to see this article about my hometown! Until I read the comments. You people sure know how to rain on someone's parade :P

  25. That's nothing by commodoresloat · · Score: 5, Funny

    You should see how many things in the U.S. are named after Ronald Reagan!

    1. Re:That's nothing by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

      But there's only one thing named after George Bush, sadly that thing is still running the country.

  26. Here's an example of the real thing by S-100 · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Target Stores sometimes paint their logo on the roofs of their locations. I don't know if they do it for the sake of Google Maps, but it's quite visible. Here's one from a store in Chicago:

    http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&geocode=&q=target+stores+chicago&ie=UTF8&ll=42.006225,-87.886505&spn=0.012883,0.017509&t=k&z=16

    1. Re:Here's an example of the real thing by Petrushka · · Score: 2, Informative

      It's not for the sake of Google Maps, it's to be visible to passengers in passing planes. Notice the major international airport (O'Hare) about 500 m south-west of that spot ...

      Here's another company logo just to the south of O'Hare. Sometimes you see them further away if the building is in a flight-path. Here and here are a couple several km away from Auckland Airport; notice the different orientation of the logos, depending on the angle the building will be visible from.

    2. Re:Here's an example of the real thing by mgabrys_sf · · Score: 2, Funny

      Shh! You FOOL! Those are Wall Mart's cover story for their impending death-satellite campaign. You're not supposed to mention them until AFTER the attack.

      One more word outa you, and you'll be a door greeter in Topeka for the next 5 years.

      ALL HAIL WALLMART!

  27. Re:Where exactly? by gmuslera · · Score: 5, Funny

    A new breaktrough in loseless image compression, what really matters of that image in just 2 bytes.

  28. Re:Where exactly? by GFree678 · · Score: 5, Funny

    I disagree. I can provide a better artist's impression: :D

  29. Never mind. by John+Vai · · Score: 5, Interesting

    It was just a stupid promo action for the local Internet service provider (is74.ru). They also gathered these people to sign the petition "please introduce a $15 unlimited Internet plan". Although they did not collect enough signatures, they still introduced it.

    Also, they promised to hire a plane to get rid of the clouds (which would not help anyway - google maps will never add just a 500×500 meter shot to their maps if everything else is covered by clouds. They also promised that you'll be able to see the shots on Google Maps the next day - which is also a blatant lie. This ISP already had a terrible reputation for cutting the optical cables of its competitors, and now this.

  30. 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?

  31. Whatever by spud.dups · · Score: 2, Interesting

    Though I doubt no one cares at this point, I took the images in the article, and the current google map images, and overlapped them. If it was a photoshop job they did a really good job with the traffic. If it was real, then the same cars just happen to park in the same places on those days. Or maybe the satellite passed by twice on the same day to take a shot at a different time. The link to my image file is here.

  32. Bad teeth by laddiebuck · · Score: 2, Funny

    I see that according to good old Eastern European custom, the smiley has bad teeth. Probably too much vodka...

    (Disclaimer: I say this as a Hungarian with bad teeth. :)

  33. It was actually explained in one of the links ... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Informative

    Read the discussion in the link after the images taken on the event.

    This was a real attempt, but it was acknowledged (by people who were there) as failed, probably beccause of the overcast.

    It was a ploy event for a local IPS (which according to the commenter happens to have bad reputation anyway).

    Case closed?

  34. 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
  35. In soviet Russia.. by phexitol · · Score: 5, Funny

    Toilet paper knows when you are coming! Oh, wait a minute...

  36. Re:Where exactly? by c0p0n · · Score: 4, Informative

    Looks fake to me. The screenshots on the article's websites show the cars on the exactly same positions, so it's obviously the same square, photoshopped.

    --

    Your head a splode
  37. Re:Where exactly? by Stooshie · · Score: 2, Funny

    Nothing in Russian google maps

    http://maps.google.ru/maps?hl=en&client=firefox-a&q=chelyabinsk+russia&ie=UTF8&ll=55.160141,61.402341&spn=0.005075,0.016522&t=h&z=17

    --
    America, Home of the Brave. ... .and the Squaw.
  38. Re:Where exactly? by Inf0phreak · · Score: 4, Funny
    I also heard that a Japanese artist had made an impression:

    ^_^

    --
    ________
    Entranced by anime since late summer 2001 and loving it ^_^
  39. Re:Where exactly? by teh+kurisu · · Score: 2, Interesting

    Off-topic, I know, but I'd never seen this before, and I found it quite funny.

    Trademarks are not verbs.

    CORRECT: The image was enhanced using Adobe® Photoshop® software.
    INCORRECT: The image was photoshopped.

    Trademarks are not verbs, therefore verbs are not trademarks, therefore 'photoshopped' is not a trademark, and can therefore be used freely. Or am I applying logic where none applies? (Yes, I know, trademark law probably covers stuff like this.)

  40. bleh by joss · · Score: 3, Funny

    I'm more impressed that they made their park a union jack, I guess that was put up a 100+ years ago, so maybe they just have a history of sucking up to the powers that be..

    --
    http://rareformnewmedia.com/
  41. Re:Where exactly? by complete+loony · · Score: 2, Informative

    The other pictures from the event clearly show an overcast sky. Even if they did time it properly for the next fly-by, I doubt the google earth image will show anything.

    --
    09F91102 no, 455FE104 nope, F190A1E8 uh-uh, 7A5F8A09 that's not it, C87294CE no. Ah! 452F6E403CDF10714E41DFAA257D313F.
  42. Re:Where exactly? by Simon+Brooke · · Score: 4, Funny

    Off-topic, I know, but I'd never seen this before, and I found it quite funny.

    Trademarks are not verbs.

    CORRECT: The image was enhanced using Adobe® Photoshop® software. INCORRECT: The image was photoshopped.

    Trademarks are not verbs, therefore verbs are not trademarks, therefore 'photoshopped' is not a trademark, and can therefore be used freely. Or am I applying logic where none applies? (Yes, I know, trademark law probably covers stuff like this.)

    I tried to Google for an authoritative answer, but didn't come up with anything.

    --
    I'm old enough to remember when discussions on Slashdot were well informed.
  43. Re:Where exactly? by need4mospd · · Score: 5, Funny

    I Britannica'd the info and found what you're looking for. I'll Xerox the page and UPS it to you.

  44. Re:Where exactly? by camperdave · · Score: 4, Funny

    Looks fake to me. The screenshots on the article's websites show the cars on the exactly same positions, so it's obviously the same square, photoshopped.

    That makes me angry. They go through all the trouble of handing out yellow capes to hundreds of people. They tell them where to stand, and they probably have to wait there for quite a time while the satellite passes over. They have to block traffic, and business, etc. Then some humourless drone down at Google goes and photoshops all that work away. It was probably done by the same sourpuss person who got rid of the "Swim across the Atlantic" instruction you used to get when asking for directions from New York to London, England.

    --
    When our name is on the back of your car, we're behind you all the way!
  45. More Russian Messages by n2505d · · Score: 2, Interesting

    http://englishrussia.com/?p=2064#more-2064 http://maps.yahoo.com/index.php#mvt=s&lat=55.872849&lon=37.661707&mag=1&zoom=18&trf=0

  46. Re:Where exactly? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Informative

    Whoooooooooosh

  47. Re:Where exactly? by The+Gaytriot · · Score: 3, Funny

    It was definitely 'shopped, but I did manage to find a real instance of this happening. It was in Central Park, NY, weird...
    Here's a screenshot:
    http://05lan.dyndns.org/public/centralpark.JPG

    This one is definitely not photoshopped.

    --
    Srsly u guys. U guys, srsly.
  48. Re:Where exactly? by WoLpH · · Score: 2, Funny

    It's 3 bytes actually, he added a space there ;)

  49. Re:Where exactly? by irenaeous · · Score: 2, Informative

    Look again. Even the moving cars (the ones that have not been photoshopped away) are in exactly the same place.

  50. Re:Finally, a way GIMP is definitely superior! by devilspgd · · Score: 2, Funny

    Yeah... "I gimped Bob into the company photo" will go over real well.

    --
    Give a man a fish, he'll eat for a day, but teach a man to phish...