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Russian Town Puts Giant Smiley On Google Maps
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."
In Soviet Russia, satellite smiles at you!
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
In soviet Russia, we know when the American satellites are coming!
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?
ÐÑо? ÐÑ Ð½Ð ÐонÐмÐÐÑÐ Ðо-ÑÑfÑÑÐÐ? ÑмоÑÑÐ Ð google ÐÐÑÐÐоÐ! ÐоРWow, seriously no cyrillic on slashdot? What is this the 90's?
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.
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!
I had hoped idle would stay confined to idle. This is not technology.
This ... is ... IDLE!!! </300>
... Google searches for YOU!
Paleotechnologist and connoisseur of pretty shiny things.
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.
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.
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?
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;
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;
You should see how many things in the U.S. are named after Ronald Reagan!
A new breaktrough in loseless image compression, what really matters of that image in just 2 bytes.
Perhaps you've forgotten that the purpose of news isn't to inform, it's to coerce opinion.
Requiem for the American Dream
I disagree. I can provide a better artist's impression: :D
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.
Toilet paper knows when you are coming! Oh, wait a minute...
I Britannica'd the info and found what you're looking for. I'll Xerox the page and UPS it to you.