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Have some unrelated Google Maps trivia I just discovered. 1. Scroll down to the map and the end, and zoom all the way in. For me the tileset goes back in time

by i336_ 10y ago

Have some unrelated Google Maps trivia I just discovered. 1. Scroll down to the map and the end, and zoom all the way in. For me the tileset goes back in time to before the building was finished. I initially thought "wow, Google merged an overhead render from the architect!", but when I followed the "View larger map" link zooming in showed the completed building. TIL Maps uses different tilesets for different APIs! 2. See your avatar at the top-right of the embedded map view? Hover that, and you'll see "+YourUsername", just like in the old +Google days. Wow :P I'm guessing this site is using a legacy embed API or something. These were fun glitches to stumble on though.

modeless 10y ago
Looks like zooming in switches to 3/4 perspective view. The top-down and 3/4 perspective images were taken at different times. When you click through to Google Maps, it will use the WebGL true 3D version which is, understandably, a completely different tileset. Unless your computer doesn't support WebGL, in which case you'll see the same 3/4 perspective imagery as before. The embed never uses WebGL, perhaps because it would be rude for a small embedded map to use a ton of your GPU memory. If historical imagery interests you, Google has several options available: The desktop Google Earth client will show you historical top-down aerial imagery that you can scrub through with a time slider: https://support.google.com/earth/answer/148094?hl=en https://support.google.com/earth/answer/148094?hl=en You can access historical street view imagery through the main Google Maps web interface: https://googleblog.blogspot.com/2014/04/go-back-in-time-with-street-view.html https://googleblog.blogspot.com/2014/04/go-back-in-time-with... For large-scale or global changes, there's https://earthengine.google.com/timelapse/ https://earthengine.google.com/timelapse/ which is essentially a zoomable video of the entire Earth over the past 30 years at ~30m resolution. For the true 3D imagery and 3/4 perspective view, I believe there's not currently a way to view historical versions (perhaps because stitching and reconstruction continues to improve and older versions would be low quality).
- i336_ 10y ago
  > Looks like zooming in switches to 3/4 perspective view. (...) When you click through to Google Maps, it will use the WebGL true 3D version which is, understandably, a completely different tileset. Unless your computer doesn't support WebGL, in which case you'll see the same 3/4 perspective imagery as before. Problem: my old laptop doesn't support WebGL, and I'm seeing the new building at all zoom levels. > The embed never uses WebGL, perhaps because it would be rude for a small embedded map to use a ton of your GPU memory. That makes absolutely perfect sense - another thing is that the embed needs to "just work", and WebGL is in effect kicking in OpenGL; if the display stack isn't in sane condition (eg, misconfigured or buggy driver) it may cause lockups or other issues. Thanks very much for the other links! - Google Earth is on my todo list of things to play with when I'm back on my i3 - The historical street view thing is awesome and really useful, I agree - TIL about Timelapse, that is awesome. Thanks very much! Your theory about stitching/reconstruction of old tilesets sounds quite plausible.

by i336_ 10y ago

modeless 10y ago

Looks like zooming in switches to 3/4 perspective view. The top-down and 3/4 perspective images were taken at different times. When you click through to Google Maps, it will use the WebGL true 3D version which is, understandably, a completely different tileset. Unless your computer doesn't support WebGL, in which case you'll see the same 3/4 perspective imagery as before. The embed never uses WebGL, perhaps because it would be rude for a small embedded map to use a ton of your GPU memory. If historical imagery interests you, Google has several options available: The desktop Google Earth client will show you historical top-down aerial imagery that you can scrub through with a time slider: https://support.google.com/earth/answer/148094?hl=en https://support.google.com/earth/answer/148094?hl=en You can access historical street view imagery through the main Google Maps web interface: https://googleblog.blogspot.com/2014/04/go-back-in-time-with-street-view.html https://googleblog.blogspot.com/2014/04/go-back-in-time-with... For large-scale or global changes, there's https://earthengine.google.com/timelapse/ https://earthengine.google.com/timelapse/ which is essentially a zoomable video of the entire Earth over the past 30 years at ~30m resolution. For the true 3D imagery and 3/4 perspective view, I believe there's not currently a way to view historical versions (perhaps because stitching and reconstruction continues to improve and older versions would be low quality).

i336_ 10y ago
> Looks like zooming in switches to 3/4 perspective view. (...) When you click through to Google Maps, it will use the WebGL true 3D version which is, understandably, a completely different tileset. Unless your computer doesn't support WebGL, in which case you'll see the same 3/4 perspective imagery as before. Problem: my old laptop doesn't support WebGL, and I'm seeing the new building at all zoom levels. > The embed never uses WebGL, perhaps because it would be rude for a small embedded map to use a ton of your GPU memory. That makes absolutely perfect sense - another thing is that the embed needs to "just work", and WebGL is in effect kicking in OpenGL; if the display stack isn't in sane condition (eg, misconfigured or buggy driver) it may cause lockups or other issues. Thanks very much for the other links! - Google Earth is on my todo list of things to play with when I'm back on my i3 - The historical street view thing is awesome and really useful, I agree - TIL about Timelapse, that is awesome. Thanks very much! Your theory about stitching/reconstruction of old tilesets sounds quite plausible.