I've Been Cartographed!

[beamjockey]

I walked out of my house this morning and observed an unfamiliar vehicle on Newton Court.



I waved. The driver waved back.

It was the vividly decorated Google Street View car!



As he trundled off down the squiggly streets of my suburban neighborhood, I realized, with rising excitement, that there was a chokepoint he must pass in a few minutes, and that I had my camera in my car. When he came to the corner of Wydown and White Barn, I was ready to shoot.

I'm afraid I may have stalked him for a while.



The driver of California 6KKS765 appeared human, and quite lifelike. With Google, this cannot be taken for granted.


In a few months, when White Barn Road is painted into Street View at long last, look for me. I will be in my driveway. I will also be on the corner of Wydown and White Barn. I will be leaning out the window of a red car in a couple of other places, sometimes ahead, sometimes behind your point of view. My neighborhood will be filled with little red cars.

If you knew that Google was just about to come down your street, what would you do? Hide? Dress up? Make a sign?



My excitement at following a gaily-painted vehicle cruising through my neighborhood put me in mind of the ice cream truck.

Around here, the loudspeaker on the ice cream truck plays "Turkey in the Straw" (despite the fact that the Ice Cream Man does not, so far as I know, sell any turkey, not even turkey-flavored popsicles).

Wouldn't the residents like to know that Google's Mapmobile is passing through, inhaling pictures hither and yon? Wouldn't it be nice if the Mapmobile were to announce itself by playing a cheery tune?

And this wasn't even the most exciting thing that happened today.

EDITED TO ADD: Now read the rest of the story. Images of me surfaced on Street View at the end of 2012.

Comments

[planettom.livejournal.com]

You're supposed to put on your horsehead at a time like that.

[derekl1963.livejournal.com]

"If you knew that Google was just about to come down your street, what would you do? Hide? Dress up? Make a sign?"

Head out to the workshop and improvise a spike strip.

[ccw71266.livejournal.com]

>If you knew that Google was just about to come down your street, what would you do?

Ask what took them so long. Most of the GMaps of my neighborhood date from 2008 or so.

[davidgoldfarb.livejournal.com]

Okay, I'll bite: what was the most exciting thing?

[ffutures.livejournal.com]

If you knew that Google was just about to come down your street, what would you do?

Warn them that the road is closed ahead and watch them take it over a load of humps driving back out again.

[maiac.livejournal.com]

There's something so just about taking photos of the Google Street View car.

If I saw the car on my street, first thing I'd do is make sure the front blinds are all closed. (Why, yes, I'm paranoid.)

So of course I had to check Google Street View to make sure there's no Street View of my street. And there isn't.

[seawasp]

Which means they will be coming by sometimes soon.

[maiac.livejournal.com]

Maybe. I live in a neighborhood of streets that are only a few blocks long. There are Street Views of the "main" cross-streets a few blocks away from my house. So the GSV car has been in the neighborhood, but I assume my street wasn't worth photographing. I don't mind.

[seawasp]

Me? I'd put up a big sign with my most recent book cover clearly visible even in Google Street View's questionable resolution.

[beamjockey.livejournal.com]

Now you're making me regret that i didn't put up a big sign with your most recent book cover clearly visible. What kind of friend am I?

In my defense, I don't think I could have accomplished this in the two or three minutes available to me.

You'll just have to find other, equally tasteful ways to promote your latest book.

(Which, I believe, would be Grand Central Arena by Ryk E. Spoor, folks. Ask for it by name at your bookseller's!)

[seawasp]

I am glad that I don't have to resort to crude means such as getting online friends to post blatant plugs for my work. Such as my forthcoming work, Phoenix Rising by Ryk E. Spoor, coming in November to fine bookstores near you!

[stickmaker.livejournal.com]

They got me!

http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&source=s_q&hl=en&geocode=&q=730+Cline+Street,++ky&sll=37.0625,-95.677068&sspn=48.15347,70.3125&ie=UTF8&hq=&hnear=730+Cline+St,+Frankfort,+Franklin,+Kentucky+40601&layer=c&cbll=38.208849,-84.880285&panoid=txUfgQEBF8R0h5vPg4cmsQ&cbp=12,304.26,,0,6.28&ll=38.208781,-84.880371&spn=0.021919,0.050468&z=15

Between two and four years ago, judging by the presence of the stump on the left and the shrubs.

[dd-b.livejournal.com]

My street view dates from 2007. But at least my car is parked in front of the house. It is, however, the old car, which I no longer have.

I'd love to come up with something clever to display if I saw them, but then I never would. See them, I mean. Maybe stand in front of my house with two holstered side-arms and a rifle?

[neowolf2.livejournal.com]

I'm thinking there should be a market for realistic looking fake cars (inflatable, perhaps) that one could put in the driveway to ego boost yourself on GSV.

[beamjockey.livejournal.com]

Wouldn't it be simpler to bribe some functionary at Google to insert a Photoshopped image showing a fancy car in your driveway?

This would not work, of course, if Google employees are incorruptible.

[isherempress.livejournal.com]

Google photographed our house quite a while back, when the neighbor kid was mowing our lawn. The choke cherry bush, surrounded by pudding stones and just to the right of the driveway, was much smaller when the photo was taken. The pine trees that embrace our boulder, Big Pink, are also much bigger today. But the house looks much the same.

http://maps.google.com/?mid=1334330935

So what were the other exciting things that happened?

[holyoutlaw.livejournal.com]

I like your suggestion for music the Google Street View car would play.

I saw the Google Street View car in my neighborhood several months ago, but the picture from that intersection is still a couple years old. I wonder what the lag time is?

The aerial view is changed more often.

[modelmaker.livejournal.com]

They got me while I was working on my forge! Unfortunately I didn't see them go by
http://maps.google.com/maps?q=2109+North+Old+Hicks+Road,+Palatine,+IL&hl=en&ll=42.147838,-88.020626&spn=0.006674,0.009645&sll=42.148552,-88.021867&layer=c&cbp=13,164.22,,1,3.36&cbll=42.147784,-88.020387&hnear=2109+N+Old+Hicks+Rd,+Palatine,+Illinois+60074&t=m&z=17&panoid=jyqIZCZIYX7zb_2GVWy2aw

[acmespaceship.livejournal.com]

I'd like to say that if I knew the Google car was coming, I'd organize the neighbors to present Victorian-style tableaux vivants of famous scenes: Washington crossing the Delaware, raising the flag on Iwo Jima, Norman Rockwell's Thanksgiving scene...

In reality, I'd mow the lawn.

You're going to keep us in suspense about the most exciting thing, aren't you?

[whl.livejournal.com]

I saw the Google Earth car come by on Saturday morning, when it was stopped at a light. As my apartment is 11 stories up, and I was in my pajamas, all I could do was wave, which is not visible in the images...

[johnridley.livejournal.com]

Some people have made pranking the street view car into quite a sport. I've seen some pretty creative stuff, one including dozens of people in costumes in a small parade.

[ckd]

Possibly these folks? http://www.streetwithaview.com/

[mike johns (from livejournal.com)]

Anything elaborate requiring multiple people on short notice won't really a work. If you were patient and prepared you might be able to have a 10 ft. Google maps pin with a big 'A' on it stashed in the garage that was light enough to deploy. Like the one the XKCD geohashers built.