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Things like this are actually done for very valid reasons, but these easter eggs are a really neat way to do it. The reason? making an accurate map from a terr
by hashmal 3y ago
Things like this are actually done for very valid reasons, but these easter eggs are a really neat way to do it.
The reason? making an accurate map from a territory is (or used to be) difficult and takes time. Introducing fictional stuff in a map is a way to:
- figure out which of your cartographer competitors are copying you
- bring the case to court (factual data isn't protected by copyright, fictional data is).
Even Google Maps add a few fictional elements, but they're much more boring, like adding ghost streets in rural areas.
- lmpdev 3y agoTangental: This is why Golf Courses and Land Art Designs are uncopyrightable but media created in the process of their development are
- mtmail 3y agoYes, usually boring. OpenStreetMap collected some examples https://wiki.openstreetmap.org/wiki/Copyright_Easter_Eggs#Examples_from_Google_Maps https://wiki.openstreetmap.org/wiki/Copyright_Easter_Eggs#Ex...
- twothamendment 3y agoThere is a ghost road I reported on Google and was ignored. It wasn't just any road, an impossible road. It is a straight line from the base of a mountain right to the top, all while gaining thousands of feet in elevation. I haven't checked it out in person, but I'm familiar with the area, and I'd place a large wager that it doesn't. Anyone who copies this road will have a map that screams "I copied Google!"
- SamBam 3y agoI wonder if Google Maps tags the fictitious streets in its metadata somehow, so that it doesn't actually send cars down those roads.
- sllabres 3y agoIf they are only short dead end streets they won't be at risk sending cars through
- floatrock 3y agoThat's a real phenomenon -- they're typically called Trap Streets https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trap_street https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trap_street https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/trap-streets-with-no-names https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/trap-streets-with-no-n... -- but that's a bit different from these easter eggs. You put a drawing of a marmot in a mountainside or turn a stream into a naked lady to have a chuckle and get one over your boss, not to enforce copyright :)
- kirmerzlikin 3y agoThere's a "Map Men" episode on this: https://youtu.be/DeiATy-FfjI https://youtu.be/DeiATy-FfjI