7 ms·
Google maps 8bit quest mode. A setup for 4/1 perhaps?
- loucal 15y agoDrag the hero on to the map somewhere and he will land somewhere with streetview, which gets turned into 8bit, hilarious.
- mjn 15y agoThat's pretty great. I've wanted for a while to find a way to layer image effects onto Google Street View, to be able to move around the world in a sort of alternate processed reality. But afaik, there's no straightfoward way to add a filter like that unless you're Google. There's an image API, but the resolution is only 640x480. There's an undocumented image API with higher-res images, but you'll get banned if you make more than occasional usage of it. Perhaps it'd be possible to do it via a browser extension that renders the effects locally? [edit: Just thought of one possible route. There's a WebGL beta for Street View; perhaps you could add effects by injecting some WebGL shader code, given appropriate local security permissions?] So far I've been just experimenting with grabbing a few hundred images from the undocumented API and applying effects locally. This is the result of one experiment (hit [reload] at the top/right for new images): http://www.kmjn.org/projects/cyanocph/ http://www.kmjn.org/projects/cyanocph/
- loucal 15y agonice! I really like that. Thanks for posting this.
- jianshen 15y agoThis is fun for looking at street art: http://g.co/maps/ary5t http://g.co/maps/ary5t screenshot: http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7188/6886373098_84a16330a1_o.png http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7188/6886373098_84a16330a1_o.p...
- clebio 15y agoNice! This reminded me of the murals in SF: http://maps.google.com/maps?q=3481+16th+Street,+San+Francisco,+CA&hl=en&ll=37.764398,-122.430427&spn=0.001694,0.003138&sll=37.764398,-122.430427&sspn=0.001703,0.003138&oq=3481+16&t=8&hnear=3481+16th+St,+San+Francisco,+California+94114&z=19&layer=c&cbll=37.764398,-122.430427&panoid=fX4N18ijJdWCv7YU6E5PSQ&cbp=12,352.18,,0,0.15 http://maps.google.com/maps?q=3481+16th+Street,+San+Francisc...
- sad_panda 15y agoJust figured that out. You have to disable MapsGL for that to work.
- aaronsw 15y agoGoogle offices are apparently marked with surprisingly-unpixelated propellerheads. There's also some custom art for SF landmarks.
- mikeleeorg 15y agoI was so hoping I could see the propellerheads in closer detail with the Street View, but alas...
- subpixel 15y agoFunny, I met Brett of http://8bitcity.com/map http://8bitcity.com/map this week ;)
- DrewHintz 15y agoGoogle is finally going to support the NES: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rznYifPHxDg http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rznYifPHxDg
- tiles 15y agoResisting every hacker temptation to look into making this a real NES cartridge. Development: http://wiki.nesdev.com/w/index.php/Nesdev_Wiki http://wiki.nesdev.com/w/index.php/Nesdev_Wiki Modem: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Famicom_Modem http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Famicom_Modem Microphone: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nintendo_Entertainment_System#Hardwired_controllers http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nintendo_Entertainment_System#H... How long before April 1st?
- withad 15y agoEven though I think this is great, it still kind of annoys me that they keep calling it a NES when they're clearly using a Famicom. I suspect that's actually going to confuse a lot of people.
- _delirium 15y agoIt looks like the video was made by Japanese, but they probably used the name "NES" because it's more familiar to English-speaking audiences who're likely to make up the majority of video views.
- ekianjo 15y agoThis was probably made by their Google Japan branch, that's why they only had regular Famicom available.
- mgkimsal 15y agoReminds me of Ultima II. Or was that Ultima ][ ?
- aw3c2 15y agoWith OSM you can do that yourself, see http://8bitcity.com http://8bitcity.com for an example.
- NelsonMinar 15y agoIt's a pretty impressive map for an April Fool's joke. Particularly like the 2d rendered buildings for landmarks like the Eiffel Tower, Sutro Tower in SF, etc. Presumably somewhat inspired by Brett Camper's 2010 project 8bitNYC. http://8bitcity.com/map?New%20York http://8bitcity.com/map?New%20York The YouTube video is hilarious.
- nilsjuenemann 15y agoGoogle Streetview is also available in 8 bit mode: http://maps.google.com/maps?q=googleplex&hl=en&ll=37.421725,-122.083747&spn=0.012611,0.023217&sll=52.531887,13.434992&sspn=0.038428,0.092869&t=8&hq=googleplex&radius=15000&z=16&layer=c&cbll=37.420836,-122.084885&panoid=tLjwO4QEuljVhPL1ERQ8lw&cbp=12,0,,0,0 http://maps.google.com/maps?q=googleplex&hl=en&ll=37...
- objclxt 15y ago...only in the Flash viewer though: not on WebGL (to save anyone clicking the link who's opted into the WebGL beta).
- tesseract 15y agoa possible word of warning: I disabled MapsGL to see it. In the past there has always been a button to get back into GL mode, but I can't find it anymore so I am now stuck in Flash.
- objclxt 15y agoYes, me too. I assume it will be coming back post April 1st...
- bsimpson 15y agoI was wondering what everyone was talking about. Thanks for the tip. Incognito mode to the rescue!
- why-el 15y agoThis looks like an early April's fool to me.
- piotrSikora 15y agoWhy early? It's already April 1st in eastern part of the world.
- bsimpson 15y agoEveryone knows the Internet only work in California.
- Az350 15y agoThis service is developed by GoogleJapan. So, April's fool is earlier than the US'.
- sirn 15y agoTry going to 0.00,0.00 and zoom in. (spoilers warning) This is what you get: http://i.imgur.com/JJxGn.png http://i.imgur.com/JJxGn.png There's also another one in a deeper zoom level.
- discountgenius 15y agoThank you, Google, for creating a world where a spoiler warning might be necessary before a link to your mainstream product.
- sad_panda 15y agoHahaha, the Dragonlord transformation is awesome!!
- jaredsohn 15y agoDirect link: http://maps.google.com/maps?hl=en&sll=0,0&t=8 http://maps.google.com/maps?hl=en&sll=0,0&t=8. Zoom out to see the alternate view.
- rubergly 15y agoNotice the map data for that location is copyright Square Enix.
- digitallimit 15y agoMadison, Wisconsin (http://g.co/maps/pnsev http://g.co/maps/pnsev) has an imagined Monona Terrace as well as some kids with silly hats.
- rexreed 15y agoThe region around MIT in Cambridge, MA shows similar detail: https://maps.google.com/maps?q=cambridge+ma&hl=en&ll=42.361556,-71.091027&spn=0.012652,0.01929&sll=43.076913,-89.380302&sspn=0.012507,0.01929&t=8&hnear=Mid-Cambridge,+Middlesex,+Massachusetts&z=16 https://maps.google.com/maps?q=cambridge+ma&hl=en&ll...
- hung 15y agoI believe those denote locations of Google offices. There's also some in Mountain View.
- caublestone 15y agoDoes anyone else see these projects, the always changing Google logo, and G+ as proof that Google just has way too much talent and not enough useful ideas?
- cloudwalking 15y agoI think Google likes to have fun.
- steve-howard 15y agoFurther, if your job is somewhere that you have fun and are free to occasionally make interesting-but-useless things, you're less likely to quit.
- ndcrandall 15y agoWhat a great way to demonstrate that talent in unique ways and keep employees happy with an awesome atmosphere!
- wnight 15y agoNo. Keeping the system from visually stagnating, and having fun with your users, is one of those useful ideas... Besides, I doubt the artists are taking resources from feature developers. If anything, they're probably sitting idle between roll-outs.
- caublestone 15y agoYou are right. However, successfully selling products to people isn't fun. See Apple. If some Google homies got together in their spare or 20% time (does that still exist?) and utilized the Google tools to make this, then sweet. But, if some engineers getting paid $80k+ used their work time to build this, doesn't that suggest Google has too much talent? I like fun (and Google), but investors like profits.
- jaredsohn 15y agoThese projects and the changing Google logo can be thought of as marketing expenses to maintain Google's brand, which helps them continue to attract users and developers. G+ is built for strategic reasons (and not something they're just doing because they don't know have 'enough useful ideas'.) You can debate whether G+ is the right thing for them to do, but they're building it because Google leadership thinks they should.
- dustmop 15y agoAs of an hour and a half ago, it's April 1 in Japan.
- evincarofautumn 15y agoDragon Warrior! Man, I loved that game, despite its flaws. The gameplay was really slow-paced, and the random battles were kind of annoying. But it was unabashedly itself, and I guess I fell in love with the world and the good ol’ swords-and-sorcery style. It helps that the NES is just an excellent system—mine’s still in perfect working order.
- jahmed 15y agoYeah the music in the video really brought me back for a second. I was just thinking about my old NES wondering where in my parents house it could be and if I could play earthbound.
- LVB 15y agoMonster: http://goo.gl/ER97T http://goo.gl/ER97T
- nilsjuenemann 15y agoI created a tumblr to collect all the monsters! http://map-monster.tumblr.com/ http://map-monster.tumblr.com/ Found a monster? Leave a link into the comments.
- ttttannebaum 15y agoTry: Volgograd Pogradec Randazzo Paceco Balfour, Mpumalanga, South Africa (zoom out) Makasa, Northern, Zambia (zoom out) Goch Mallow, Ireland Just found them by searching around. Not sure if there's any logic to where they're placed, besides on land.
- Geee 15y agoThere's one at Fuji mountain in Japan.
- ilikepi 15y agoI came across one south of Washington, DC: http://maps.google.com/maps?hl=en&ll=38.585747,-76.658478&spn=0.90063,0.96817&t=8&z=10 http://maps.google.com/maps?hl=en&ll=38.585747,-76.65847...
- sad_panda 15y agoReims, France
- d2vid 15y agoI tried dragging the street view dude onto the monster, but unfortunately no battle ensued ;(
- zaidmo 15y agoHaHa! Google is awesome! Other outlets are just running bizarre news stories today, but Google actually developed and released something so cool!
- perone 15y agoJust look on the copyright message in bottom right: SQUARE ENIX. Final fantasy.
- runevault 15y agoActually Dragon Warrior not FF, which was an Enix property pre-merger.
- taylorbuley 15y agoI'm curious how this was found?
- Vaanir 15y agoThere's a quest button in the top right when using Maps, as of a hour or so ago I guess.
- brandonhall 15y agoMatt Cutts tweeting is how I found out.
- fiblye 15y agoA nice little detail for Pittsburghers: http://i.imgur.com/fQR4u.png http://i.imgur.com/fQR4u.png I wonder how many cities they made landmarks for?
- maukdaddy 15y agoNo buildings in Stockholm, but they appear to have marked their office with figures wearing propeller beanies: http://g.co/maps/hjpgu http://g.co/maps/hjpgu
- paulsmith 15y agoHere's a tumblelog of easter eggs, open for submissions: http://gmaps8biteastereggs.tumblr.com/ http://gmaps8biteastereggs.tumblr.com/
- mieubrisse 15y agoTokyo, Japan: http://maps.google.com/maps?q=Tokyo,+Japan&hl=en&ll=35.68808,139.694595&spn=0.024225,0.052357&sll=35.689488,139.691706&sspn=0.775175,1.675415&oq=tokyo&t=8&hnear=Tokyo,+Japan&z=15 http://maps.google.com/maps?q=Tokyo,+Japan&hl=en&ll=...
- ekianjo 15y agoSky Tree (recently huge Tower built in Tokyo) here: http://maps.google.com/maps?q=Tokyo,+Japan&hl=en&ll=35.707667,139.809952&spn=0.031502,0.066047&sll=35.689488,139.691706&sspn=0.775175,1.675415&oq=tokyo&t=8&hnear=Tokyo,+Japan&z=15 http://maps.google.com/maps?q=Tokyo,+Japan&hl=en&ll=...
- kalleboo 15y agoJapan is full of stuff, also check Osaka, Kyoto, Mt Fuji, Miyajima, etc
- mojowo11 15y agoSan Francisco got a few little landmarks... Sutro Tower: http://i.imgur.com/1CUY1.png http://i.imgur.com/1CUY1.png Ferry Building and (I think) the Google SF headquarters: http://i.imgur.com/VmC2D.png http://i.imgur.com/VmC2D.png Alcatraz: http://i.imgur.com/FkFf1.png http://i.imgur.com/FkFf1.png
- 7952 15y agoSeriously, more casual maps can work well in presenting information. http://sh.edushi.com/ http://sh.edushi.com/
- seagreen 15y agoThat's gorgeous! I found more info here if anyone's interested (I can't read Chinese): http://www.popsci.com/scitech/article/2009-06/edushis-3-d-pixel-art-maps-chinese-cities-put-google-maps-shame http://www.popsci.com/scitech/article/2009-06/edushis-3-d-pi...
- mase 15y agoWOW! Incredible. I love the floating balloon advertisements. I could see that getting annoying, but a great way to get your attention
- marcelfahle 15y agoHaha, they're insane.. I love this. Great April fools'
- deleted 15y ago[deleted]
- brendannee 15y agoYou can use these 8bit tiles in your own project, its quite easy to switch the tile layer of any google maps site: http://blog.bn.ee/2012/03/31/how-to-use-google-maps-8-bit-tiles-in-your-own-project/ http://blog.bn.ee/2012/03/31/how-to-use-google-maps-8-bit-ti... I updated walksy.com to use these tiles: http://walksy.com/?8bit http://walksy.com/?8bit
- bsimpson 15y agoYou show Nob Hill, San Francisco as a part of the Presidio: "Nob Hill California and Mason, SF Tags: neighborhood, architecture, history, parks 34 reviews on http://www.yelp.com/biz/felicia-gelardi-skin-care-san-francisco http://www.yelp.com/biz/felicia-gelardi-skin-care-san-franci... StreetView" That's very much the wrong neighborhood.
- brendannee 15y agoThis is fixed - thanks for pointing that issue out!
- cdvonstinkpot 15y agoSomehow I got the map to split-screen with street view, and all the street view's in 8-bit, too.
- cdvonstinkpot 15y agoSomehow I got the map to split-screen with street view, and all the street view's in 8-bit, too.
- cdvonstinkpot 15y agoSomehow I got the map to split-screen with street view, and all the street view's in 8-bit, too.
- mikek 15y agoYoutube announcement: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rznYifPHxDg http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rznYifPHxDg
- rburhum 15y ago8bit city with map tiles have been for awhile now using Openstreetmap as the source. An example that has been arou d for years is this http://8bitcity.com/map?New%20York http://8bitcity.com/map?New%20York
- solsenNet 15y agoThis looks... erm ... neat. A "sophomore OpenGL term project" kind of neat. Baidu on the other hand does the maps right [0], which hardly surprising given their 20 years of head start. On a more general note, this reminds me of old Microsoft's tactics. Google should really stick to the search, but instead they throw together something that mimics competitor's feature. Something that looks more featureful and which is free, but upon closer inspection is effectively a half-ass effort, because it's an entirely different domain that's not their specialty. [0] http://map.baidu.com/?newmap=1&l=15&tn=B_DIMENSIONAL_MAP&c=1070242,8946925&cc=sh&s=cur%26curtp%3D0%26wd%3D%E4%B8%8A%E6%B5%B7&sc=0 http://map.baidu.com/?newmap=1&l=15&tn=B_DIMENSIONAL...
- deleted 15y ago[deleted]
- patrickyeon 15y agoAnd now I'm left wondering how this comment relates to http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=3777709 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=3777709 from yesterday...
- sad_panda 15y agoThe same comment, from two different accounts. Both related to Google products. Is this the 2012 version of "Netcraft confirms that BSD is dying"? solsenNet 32 minutes ago | link This looks... erm ... neat. A "sophomore OpenGL term project" kind of neat. Baidu on the other hand does the maps right [0], which hardly surprising given their 20 years of head start. On a more general note, this reminds me of old Microsoft's tactics. Google should really stick to the search, but instead they throw together something that mimics competitor's feature. Something that looks more featureful and which is free, but upon closer inspection is effectively a half-ass effort, because it's an entirely different domain that's not their specialty. [0] http://map.baidu.com/?newmap=1&l=15&tn=B_DIMENSIONAL.. http://map.baidu.com/?newmap=1&l=15&tn=B_DIMENSIONAL.... huhtenberg 23 hours ago | link | parent | flag This looks... erm ... neat. A "sophomore OpenGL term project" kind of neat. Wolfram on the other hand does the graphs right [0], which hardly surprising given their 20 years of head start. On a more general note, this reminds me of old Microsoft's tactics. Google should really stick to the search, but instead they throw together something that mimics competitor's feature. Something that looks more featureful and which is free, but upon closer inspection is effectively a half-ass effort, because it's an entirely different domain that's not their specialty. [0] http://www.wolframalpha.com/input/?i=sqrt%28x*x%2By*y%29%2B3.. http://www.wolframalpha.com/input/?i=sqrt%28x*x%2By*y%29%2B3....
- mkeblx 15y agoMy first instinct was to look under the hood for some sprites I could use for a map based game. No luck, all the cool building/characters seem embedded in the the actual tiles. Is there any way Google would try to make an actual game out of this? I know there are other successful online 8-bit-ish RPGs that use the Google Maps as a base...
- mehrshad 15y agoGood lord, nothing's made me miss Zelda and SimCity as much as this. Kudos Google.
- forgotusername 15y agoLaunching these changes couldn't be quick, easy, or cheap, especially when accompanied by the polished intro video, and while incredibly cute, I wonder how many here would have preferred for Code Search to continue life in exchange for not expending resources on feel-good projects like this, or e.g. the frequent doodles, the novelty of which has long since worn off.
- beaumartinez 15y agoTrue, but—a happy employee is a productive employee. If you get to build something a bit silly, a bit cheeky, a bit different every now and again—wouldn't you like your job just that little bit more?
- brandon 15y agoThis feature actually came together very quickly and in large part due to volunteer after hours efforts. I miss code search too, but it's not fair to compare the upkeep of a production service to small one-off art projects.
- tubbo 15y agoOh god the world is SimCity Classic...
- fruchtose 15y agoCan anyone identify this strange object? http://maps.google.com/maps?q=queens,+ny&hl=en&ll=39.741102,-75.322115&spn=0.005956,0.010697&sll=37.0625,-95.677068&sspn=40.188298,71.630859&t=8&hnear=Queens,+New+York&z=17 http://maps.google.com/maps?q=queens,+ny&hl=en&ll=39...
- mbetter 15y agoLooks like a druinlord.
- alan_cx 15y agoDamn google, I don't want to look at it, I want to play it!!!
- gsivil 15y agoIf it is possible post links to images not to google map links because they do not work for everyone
- Cieplak 15y agoDiscussion on reddit: http://www.reddit.com/r/technology/comments/rmfr1/browse_google_maps_in_8bit/ http://www.reddit.com/r/technology/comments/rmfr1/browse_goo...
- NatW 15y agoTry Street View! Awesome.
- nkassis 15y agoCool they did the montreal Biosphere and the Habitat 67 building but no Olympic stadium :( http://maps.google.com/maps?q=Biosph%C3%A8re,+Montreal,+QC,+Canada&hl=en&ie=UTF8&ll=45.507974,-73.532529&spn=0.030406,0.066047&sll=46.104145,-74.299193&sspn=3.850534,8.453979&oq=biosphere+&t=9&hq=Biosph%C3%A8re,+Montreal,+QC,+Canada&z=15 http://maps.google.com/maps?q=Biosph%C3%A8re,+Montreal,+QC,+...
- glenntzke 15y agoThere's a :P monster lurking at 35.371205,138.639039. He alludes you despite zooming in. There are some interesting images all over this area of the map.
- waiwai933 15y agoIf you try to replicate the route from Los Angeles to New York on Google Maps 8-bit Quest mode, it's not nearly the same route as the one in the video. Curious they missed that.
- jbg_ 15y agoIt’s been April Fools Day in New Zealand for 14 hours, so I guess rather than it being setup in advance, they just launched it in time for the first country to hit 1/4.
- jlees 15y agoIt was created by the Tokyo office, so was launched on time for them. :)
- werdnanoslen 15y agoTry searching for something, then specify the time range. Check the last option (changes on reload) :)
- stephengillie 15y agoA troll or something near Mount Rainier: http://maps.google.com/maps?q=47.04299,-122.051239&hl=en&ll=47.040211,-122.036251&spn=0.005111,0.011362&sll=47.042054,-121.784821&sspn=0.658835,0.553436&t=8&z=173436&t=8&z=10 http://maps.google.com/maps?q=47.04299,-122.051239&hl=en...
- kalleboo 15y agoInteresting, if you look at Pyongyang (North Korea), it has a bunch of labels that don't show if you use their regular maps. They're quite detailed too, it shows "Statue 2 of 'The Newly Freed Proletariat Thanks To The Grat Leader Kim Il-Sung'", schools and such. They must have hidden map data they don't show normally that leaked into this map. http://g.co/maps/tg9jy http://g.co/maps/tg9jy