10 ms·

How sheep with cameras got some tiny islands onto Google Street View

239 points by yurisagalov 9y ago

deleted 9y ago
[deleted]
tim333 9y ago
I'm having a job finding the sheep footage on Google Maps. There's some footpath shots here that seem human filmed https://www.google.com/maps/@62.1045372,-7.4263828,3a,75y,90h,90t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1sfN0d_0ANzhc-p-3gbYOUjw!2e0!7i13312!8i6656 https://www.google.com/maps/@62.1045372,-7.4263828,3a,75y,90...
- tgb 9y ago
  The article says that most of the footage was taken by humans. The sheep are apparently not the best photographers.
  - ynniv 9y ago
    The whole point of this article appears to be fluff.
    - tantalor 9y ago
      They're trying to pull the wool over your eyes.
      - bitmapbrother 9y ago
        To prevent you from finding the wolf in sheep's clothing.
- s0rce 9y ago
  It looks like the sheepview footage was just a ploy to get google to bring the actual streetview equipped vehicles to the island. I don't think the sheepview data is on google maps.
  - torgard 9y ago
    That was indeed the idea, and it worked!
_joel 9y ago
Please, no AMP :) https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/animalia/wp/2017/11/07/how-sheep-with-cameras-got-these-tiny-islands-onto-google-street-view/ https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/animalia/wp/2017/11/07/h...
- infogulch 9y ago
  As long as it loads from the original source (washingtonpost.com not google.com/.../washingtonpost) I actually like AMP. It loads faster for everyone.
  - cjsuk 9y ago
    Until you get half way down the page and everything is missing.
  - jwilk 9y ago
    AMP pages always load JS from Google. If you disable JS, you don't get any images.
    - infogulch 9y ago
      Oh no, not from Google! You're right, I should read the original page. Results from opening the original page, without adblock, and scrolling down to read the article: Over 1000 requests, 30MB, and 2m later I killed it early to save my poor browser (it's ok, FF, I won't let them do that to you again). 121 unique domains, including a dozen from google, as well as amazon, yahoo, facebook, maybe 10 other ad networks I didn't recognize, at least 10 analytics sites, and over a dozen separate CDNs. 2 separate auto-playing videos. As I scrolled back up it reloaded the ad slots a second time. AMP? 145 requests and 3MB in 5s. 42 unique domains, fewer google domains. One ad. Nothing autoplayed. Still not pretty, but I know which one I prefer. I'm not trying to argue HN link submission policy here, I'm just saying AMP might be net good on the web and maybe we should consider leaving it next time for the good of other readers. And to be fair this website probably has one of the highest adblock user ratios of any online (both html/amp go down to 80/40 requests with uBlock Origin enabled) so this doesn't affect us as much proportionately. But at least AMP is doing something with this dumpster fire.
seiferteric 9y ago
Love this idea. Now I am wondering why google doesn't have an app to allow individuals to update google street view content themselves. My house was built this year and the maps still don't show the road or the new houses. I would love being able to walk around the neighborhood with my phone and get an updated map, at least until the real google car comes by.
- 076ae80a-3c97-4 9y ago
  Whilst that's a nice idea in principle, we all know that it would get be taken advantage of. People would probably try and get themselves/their animals on Street view.
  - EA 9y ago
    Maps would be littered with advertisements.
- goda90 9y ago
  You could instead contribute to OpenStreetCam which is part of OpenStreetMap.
  - Mediterraneo10 9y ago
    OpenStreetCam is actually a project by Telenav, not part of OSM per se. However, as Telenav built their business on top of OSM data and their staff are real OSM anoraks, it was envisioned as a way to contribute more data to OSM.
    - quadrangle 9y ago
      correct me if I'm wrong, but I also had the impression that the OpenStreetCam data was licensed in a way that is at least a lot better for the public than Google's totally restricted proprietary terms…
      - toomuchtodo 9y ago
nasredin 9y ago
Thanks Google, but... There's plenty of public roads in my hometown that still don't have Street View. Speaking of mapping, I find that Microsoft's 45 degree satellite (aircraft?) imagery is much more useful than straight down imagery.
- CNJ7654 9y ago
  Have you considered buying some sheep?
- kozikow 9y ago
  Google also have oblique (45 degree) anywhere you have a 3d model. For some reason they do not show it in google maps and you need a separate API to see it: https://developers.google.com/maps/documentation/javascript/examples/aerial-simple https://developers.google.com/maps/documentation/javascript/... .
  - deleted 9y ago
    [deleted]
jdcarter 9y ago
This makes the radio transponder I put on my cat look totally amateur by comparison. I need to step up my game.
- DonHopkins 9y ago
  Sharks with freaking 360 Degree X-Ray Cameras!
quarry 9y ago
Faroe Islands Translate is also another stunt by them to get their language into google translate https://www.faroeislandstranslate.com/ https://www.faroeislandstranslate.com/
warent 9y ago
So after the sheep did some recording for us, the punchline is that they were enslaved, slaughtered, and consumed? Ha ha ha. I'm not sure how this is supposed to be amusing. Not to say that this article should be a PETA champion, but it's a pretty profound example of human arrogance and a complete lack of empathy.
- woodrowbarlow 9y ago
  how is it cruel to strap a lightweight camera to a sheep while it goes about its daily grazing? whether or not eating animals (in general) is ethical is a different question altogether.
  - warent 9y ago
    The issue of the comment isn't with the camera being strapped to the sheep; that technology is great
    - _jal 9y ago
      In other words, you'd like to hijack a discussion about an article about a publicity stunt to talk about your personal morals?
      - warent 9y ago
        I've obviously miscommunicated here quite badly. That's something I apologize for. Just to clarify: 1. My intention wasn't to hijack a discussion but to create an isolated discussion in a comment block. Hijacking, to me, would've been to reply to every other comment with the same thing. 2. The comment is still related to the article; specifically the rhetoric. 3. I wasn't aware that discussing morals is frowned upon in HN.
DonHopkins 9y ago
Mobile Wireless LANolin.
fazalul92 9y ago
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-4719674/Wildlife-photographer-says-famous-monkey-selfie-ruined-him.html http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-4719674/Wildlife-pho... Its interesting how when its a regular professional photographer, he gets his life ruined by copyright lawyers, PETA, etc. but when its Google, nobody cares.
- icebraining 9y ago
  He didn't "get his life ruined". He gambled his career and savings to get a pay day and lost. As he should, since copyright is abused enough already.
  - fazalul92 9y ago
    Copyrighting photos is something thats done regularly by photographers, I see nothing being "abused" there. How else are they supposed to make money?
    - wl 9y ago
      He was abusing copyright by claiming rights to a photo he didn't take.
      - soundwave106 9y ago
        It looks like the case referenced in the Daily Mail was settled: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2017/09/12/monkey-selfie-case-settled-british-photographer-agrees-share/ http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2017/09/12/monkey-selfie-cas... I personally think "abusing" copyright is too strong of a word here. The key test on whether this sort of work is copyright worthy is the "threshold of originality" (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Threshold_of_originality https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Threshold_of_originality). I can see it possible to argue this passed the threshold for the monkey selfie case (obviously that's debatable, and the person was not successful, but it is not a completely outrageous argument in my opinion). It's definitely a murky area of copyright law, and one I can see increasingly getting muddier as art becomes more and more machine assisted.
kozikow 9y ago
Shameless plug: our company (tensorflight.com) works on extracting building information from a few sources including street view. E.g. we extract a number of stories building have based on street view image. Please get in touch at kozikow@tensorflight.com if you have any idea for the collaboration.
- chatmasta 9y ago
  I love the reveal effect on the landing page. Genius.
gowld 9y ago
[2016] https://blog.google/products/maps/sheep-view-where-theres-wool-theres-way/ https://blog.google/products/maps/sheep-view-where-theres-wo...
waibelp 9y ago
Google sheep view :-)
amelius 9y ago
Reading the headline, I thought they used iPhone users, but it turned out to be actual sheep with cameras. Anyway, like the article says, it is mostly a PR stunt, and I'm not very impressed.
chiph 9y ago
Good thing they didn't use mountain goats, otherwise people would be thinking that a 3cm wide ledge a hundred meters up is a good hiking trail to use.

239 points by yurisagalov 9y ago

deleted 9y ago

[deleted]

I'm having a job finding the sheep footage on Google Maps. There's some footpath shots here that seem human filmed https://www.google.com/maps/@62.1045372,-7.4263828,3a,75y,90h,90t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1sfN0d_0ANzhc-p-3gbYOUjw!2e0!7i13312!8i6656 https://www.google.com/maps/@62.1045372,-7.4263828,3a,75y,90...

tgb 9y ago
The article says that most of the footage was taken by humans. The sheep are apparently not the best photographers.
- ynniv 9y ago
  The whole point of this article appears to be fluff.
  - tantalor 9y ago
    They're trying to pull the wool over your eyes.
    - bitmapbrother 9y ago
      To prevent you from finding the wolf in sheep's clothing.
s0rce 9y ago
It looks like the sheepview footage was just a ploy to get google to bring the actual streetview equipped vehicles to the island. I don't think the sheepview data is on google maps.
- torgard 9y ago
  That was indeed the idea, and it worked!

_joel 9y ago

Please, no AMP :) https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/animalia/wp/2017/11/07/how-sheep-with-cameras-got-these-tiny-islands-onto-google-street-view/ https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/animalia/wp/2017/11/07/h...

infogulch 9y ago
As long as it loads from the original source (washingtonpost.com not google.com/.../washingtonpost) I actually like AMP. It loads faster for everyone.
- cjsuk 9y ago
  Until you get half way down the page and everything is missing.
- jwilk 9y ago
  AMP pages always load JS from Google. If you disable JS, you don't get any images.
  - infogulch 9y ago
    Oh no, not from Google! You're right, I should read the original page. Results from opening the original page, without adblock, and scrolling down to read the article: Over 1000 requests, 30MB, and 2m later I killed it early to save my poor browser (it's ok, FF, I won't let them do that to you again). 121 unique domains, including a dozen from google, as well as amazon, yahoo, facebook, maybe 10 other ad networks I didn't recognize, at least 10 analytics sites, and over a dozen separate CDNs. 2 separate auto-playing videos. As I scrolled back up it reloaded the ad slots a second time. AMP? 145 requests and 3MB in 5s. 42 unique domains, fewer google domains. One ad. Nothing autoplayed. Still not pretty, but I know which one I prefer. I'm not trying to argue HN link submission policy here, I'm just saying AMP might be net good on the web and maybe we should consider leaving it next time for the good of other readers. And to be fair this website probably has one of the highest adblock user ratios of any online (both html/amp go down to 80/40 requests with uBlock Origin enabled) so this doesn't affect us as much proportionately. But at least AMP is doing something with this dumpster fire.

seiferteric 9y ago

Love this idea. Now I am wondering why google doesn't have an app to allow individuals to update google street view content themselves. My house was built this year and the maps still don't show the road or the new houses. I would love being able to walk around the neighborhood with my phone and get an updated map, at least until the real google car comes by.

076ae80a-3c97-4 9y ago
Whilst that's a nice idea in principle, we all know that it would get be taken advantage of. People would probably try and get themselves/their animals on Street view.
- EA 9y ago
  Maps would be littered with advertisements.
goda90 9y ago
You could instead contribute to OpenStreetCam which is part of OpenStreetMap.
- Mediterraneo10 9y ago
  OpenStreetCam is actually a project by Telenav, not part of OSM per se. However, as Telenav built their business on top of OSM data and their staff are real OSM anoraks, it was envisioned as a way to contribute more data to OSM.
  - quadrangle 9y ago
    correct me if I'm wrong, but I also had the impression that the OpenStreetCam data was licensed in a way that is at least a lot better for the public than Google's totally restricted proprietary terms…
    - toomuchtodo 9y ago

nasredin 9y ago

Thanks Google, but... There's plenty of public roads in my hometown that still don't have Street View. Speaking of mapping, I find that Microsoft's 45 degree satellite (aircraft?) imagery is much more useful than straight down imagery.

CNJ7654 9y ago
Have you considered buying some sheep?
kozikow 9y ago
Google also have oblique (45 degree) anywhere you have a 3d model. For some reason they do not show it in google maps and you need a separate API to see it: https://developers.google.com/maps/documentation/javascript/examples/aerial-simple https://developers.google.com/maps/documentation/javascript/... .
- deleted 9y ago
  [deleted]

jdcarter 9y ago

This makes the radio transponder I put on my cat look totally amateur by comparison. I need to step up my game.

DonHopkins 9y ago
Sharks with freaking 360 Degree X-Ray Cameras!

quarry 9y ago

Faroe Islands Translate is also another stunt by them to get their language into google translate https://www.faroeislandstranslate.com/ https://www.faroeislandstranslate.com/

warent 9y ago

So after the sheep did some recording for us, the punchline is that they were enslaved, slaughtered, and consumed? Ha ha ha. I'm not sure how this is supposed to be amusing. Not to say that this article should be a PETA champion, but it's a pretty profound example of human arrogance and a complete lack of empathy.

woodrowbarlow 9y ago
how is it cruel to strap a lightweight camera to a sheep while it goes about its daily grazing? whether or not eating animals (in general) is ethical is a different question altogether.
- warent 9y ago
  The issue of the comment isn't with the camera being strapped to the sheep; that technology is great
  - _jal 9y ago
    In other words, you'd like to hijack a discussion about an article about a publicity stunt to talk about your personal morals?
    - warent 9y ago
      I've obviously miscommunicated here quite badly. That's something I apologize for. Just to clarify: 1. My intention wasn't to hijack a discussion but to create an isolated discussion in a comment block. Hijacking, to me, would've been to reply to every other comment with the same thing. 2. The comment is still related to the article; specifically the rhetoric. 3. I wasn't aware that discussing morals is frowned upon in HN.

DonHopkins 9y ago

Mobile Wireless LANolin.

fazalul92 9y ago

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-4719674/Wildlife-photographer-says-famous-monkey-selfie-ruined-him.html http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-4719674/Wildlife-pho... Its interesting how when its a regular professional photographer, he gets his life ruined by copyright lawyers, PETA, etc. but when its Google, nobody cares.

icebraining 9y ago
He didn't "get his life ruined". He gambled his career and savings to get a pay day and lost. As he should, since copyright is abused enough already.
- fazalul92 9y ago
  Copyrighting photos is something thats done regularly by photographers, I see nothing being "abused" there. How else are they supposed to make money?
  - wl 9y ago
    He was abusing copyright by claiming rights to a photo he didn't take.
    - soundwave106 9y ago
      It looks like the case referenced in the Daily Mail was settled: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2017/09/12/monkey-selfie-case-settled-british-photographer-agrees-share/ http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2017/09/12/monkey-selfie-cas... I personally think "abusing" copyright is too strong of a word here. The key test on whether this sort of work is copyright worthy is the "threshold of originality" (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Threshold_of_originality https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Threshold_of_originality). I can see it possible to argue this passed the threshold for the monkey selfie case (obviously that's debatable, and the person was not successful, but it is not a completely outrageous argument in my opinion). It's definitely a murky area of copyright law, and one I can see increasingly getting muddier as art becomes more and more machine assisted.

kozikow 9y ago

Shameless plug: our company (tensorflight.com) works on extracting building information from a few sources including street view. E.g. we extract a number of stories building have based on street view image. Please get in touch at kozikow@tensorflight.com if you have any idea for the collaboration.

chatmasta 9y ago
I love the reveal effect on the landing page. Genius.

gowld 9y ago

[2016] https://blog.google/products/maps/sheep-view-where-theres-wool-theres-way/ https://blog.google/products/maps/sheep-view-where-theres-wo...

waibelp 9y ago

Google sheep view :-)

amelius 9y ago

Reading the headline, I thought they used iPhone users, but it turned out to be actual sheep with cameras. Anyway, like the article says, it is mostly a PR stunt, and I'm not very impressed.

chiph 9y ago

Good thing they didn't use mountain goats, otherwise people would be thinking that a 3cm wide ledge a hundred meters up is a good hiking trail to use.