Shaykh Al-Flash Amir Memon on the Flash Platform

On BBC television here in England recently I saw an item about the http://maps.google.com website and the Street View facility of Google maps.

Some time previously I had learned of the fourth annual SNAP TO GRID: the UN-Juried show in Los Angeles.

http://www.lacda.com/exhibits/snaptogrid.html

Looking at the http://www.lacda.com/location/location.html web page, I clicked through to http://www.bgfa.us/daw/map/DAW_map.html which shows a map for the downtown art walk in Los Angeles.

As Los Angeles is one of the cities featured in the Street View facility of Google maps, I wondered, could I follow the downtown art walk using the Google maps Street View facility?

I found that I could.

Along the way, at a location described as at approximately 230 South Spring Street I found what looks like a rather nice bas relief display on the side of a building. In fact, as regards the address, the building opposite has the number 218 upon it.

I am now trying to find out more about the display on the side of the building.

Referring to the video presentation linked to from your article, I suppose that in the future that there could perhaps be some way to have a facility such that an end user could overlay map information about the downtown art walk onto the Street View display of the Google map and then follow the route.

Perhaps that could be extended so that the overlaying process also adds in nodes of being inside the various galleries, the information for being inside the galleries being updated separately from the Google Street View images so that frequent updates to the gallery views could take place, such as when a new exhibition is mounted.

I notice that all of the Street View maps available at present are in and around cities and all are in the continental United States of America.

I am hoping that perhaps Street View might one day be extended to cover Giant Sequoia National Monument and maybe to cover Venice, Italy as well.

William Overington

2 October 2007

On BBC television here in England recently I saw an item about the http://maps.google.com website and the Street View facility of Google maps.

Some time previously I had learned of the fourth annual SNAP TO GRID: the UN-Juried show in Los Angeles.

http://www.lacda.com/exhibits/snaptogrid.html

Looking at the http://www.lacda.com/location/location.html web page, I clicked through to http://www.bgfa.us/daw/map/DAW_map.html which shows a map for the downtown art walk in Los Angeles.

As Los Angeles is one of the cities featured in the Street View facility of Google maps, I wondered, could I follow the downtown art walk using the Google maps Street View facility?

I found that I could.

Along the way, at a location described as at approximately 230 South Spring Street I found what looks like a rather nice bas relief display on the side of a building. In fact, as regards the address, the building opposite has the number 218 upon it.

I am now trying to find out more about the display on the side of the building.

Referring to the video presentation linked to from your article, I suppose that in the future that there could perhaps be some way to have a facility such that an end user could overlay map information about the downtown art walk onto the Street View display of the Google map and then follow the route.

Perhaps that could be extended so that the overlaying process also adds in nodes of being inside the various galleries, the information for being inside the galleries being updated separately from the Google Street View images so that frequent updates to the gallery views could take place, such as when a new exhibition is mounted.

I notice that all of the Street View maps available at present are in and around cities and all are in the continental United States of America.

I am hoping that perhaps Street View might one day be extended to cover Giant Sequoia National Monument and maybe to cover Venice, Italy as well.

William Overington

2 October 2007

---------------------------------------
Amir's response:

I think you might have gotten the wrong idea: This isn't a new google maps feature... this is a new competitor against google maps. It's an entirely different company.

And yes, the end user will be able to overlay map info as they like.

Thank you for your comments.

Since that time I have viewed the video again several times and I have had a look at the http://www.earthmine.com webspace too.

There are various external links from the following web page.

http://www.earthmine.com/media/

One of them has a picture of an earthmine vehicle which is used to record the street data.

http://www.webware.com/8301-1_109-9735721-2.html

William Overington

3 October 2007

Regarding the display at "approximately 230 South Spring Street" I have since found that there is a similar, yet different, display at the other end of the building.

At http://maps.google.com for Los Angeles using Street View the location is at approximately "230 S Broadway".

I noticed this morning that there are now some more cities added to Street View.

In some places, the display is spherical around the camera, in that one can move the viewpoint to see overhead and one can even look downwards and view the side mirrors of the vehicle which took the photographs.

In Street View for Pittsburgh, PA I found that some of the structure of the 16th St Bridge can be viewed by looking overhead. The 16th St Bridge can also be seen from a distance from a I-579 bridge which crosses the river nearby.

William Overington

10 October 2007