Thing 25, assignment 1. Google Maps

All right, the address we're sent to is the capitol building of NE--you can tell that from the satellite view, and that's were you can see the color of the cars around the capitol. Actually, it's come up at a great time, since there was an article in the paper about those circles in the courtyards--originally there were to be fountains in them. But the state ran out of money, since they built the new state capitol during the Great Depression. So, a state legislator decided it would be a great 4th grader project to raise the money for the fountains?! Of course, his idea was that we were in a recession, there was a nice parallel to it. I have to admit though, the green circles do bother me on a design level.

I love the street level shots in some cities, but in Norfolk, NE, it just made me disoriented. It was great to cruise Tokyo, and Edinburgh that way, but Norfolk never looked right. Wisnser, NE, on the other hand, looked fine. I do like the satellite views, and they do help me find things. I was trying to use the directions to find a tea shop here in town, that I thought would be easy to find--and was glad I looked on the satellite views first! For the store I chose, there were four possible locations--but one of the satellite views ended in a residential crossroad, another, out in the country, and the third was in the north! I still have to cruise to the locations of the two stores and check out what I saw on the map.

I really liked playing virtual tourist with the Eiffel Tower, although again, street view just didn't engage me. I really liked the street views of Tokyo, better photography? It seemed like you could really zoom in on things, that you weren't able to in street view in the smaller towns. And, of course, the kangaroos were fuzzy--both types of fuzzy. The photos are what I enjoyed most--when you put them in context of the maps, they're really more meaningful than, say, in an album.

And, it's really great that it allows for correcting, and suggestions about questionable content--you never know what a camera could pick up just going driving down a street.

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