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Looks like SimCity. I think the look adds something to the map. It's a bit easier to parse and understand than satellite images and adds more information than

by jmatt 17y ago

Looks like SimCity. I think the look adds something to the map. It's a bit easier to parse and understand than satellite images and adds more information than a standard overhead map. For those of us who don't read Chinese - what's the story behind this map? [EDIT: Wording]

siong1987 17y ago
This is the real map of Shanghai in 3D. If you noticed the three buttons at the top right of the frame, the first one is for 3D display. Second one is for 2D display. Last one is for satellite pics. These are so much info that I can parse from the map.
- jaaron 17y ago
  Just to be clear, the 2D map and the satellite pics are from the actual Google Maps for China: http://ditu.google.com/ http://ditu.google.com/
  - jimmybot 17y ago
    What? Google makes a custom political map for China? A couple of years ago, they used to claim that they don't make custom products for any market and product rollouts are always worldwide. Compare with: http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&source=s_q&hl=en&geocode=&q=Taiwan&sll=37.0625,-95.677068&sspn=34.724817,66.621094&ie=UTF8&ll=22.71539,121.069336&spn=20.138545,33.310547&z=5 http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&source=s_q&hl=en&#38... Note that it's not just a matter of translation. First, they list Taiwan next to Hong Kong and Macau as if it's a peripheral part of China (this is surely China's wish, but the reality is that Taiwan is an independent democracy). Then, there's a line in the water to the east of Taiwan and extending elsewhere whose sole purpose is to imply regions to be part of China's territory that are not or are controversial. This line isn't used anywhere else in the world, such as say, in the Caribbean, where the boundaries of different islands might not be clear. I guess Google wants market share in China bad enough that they are willing to proffer multiple versions of truth.
    - tutwabee 17y ago
      This actually might not be a custom product. The website that is hosting this map could be using the Google Maps API with their own map of China. Would you call the special Google News censorship for China a custom product?
      - jimmybot 17y ago
        I actually had something specifically in mind. Google Taiwan had to fight to get special options onto the search page that could limit searches to Taiwanese websites ( http://www.google.com.tw/ http://www.google.com.tw/ ). Otherwise, most Mandarin language searches would be overwhelmed by results from China. The strong resistance they encountered at the time was that Google insisted on products being rolled out worldwide in a single version, minus minor variations like translations. It's also a question of ethics in this case. This is about data that Google is directly providing, not simply a matter of ranking or showing/not showing websites in their results. It's not serving the user a purple background because they like purple. Think about another possible case--would it be right for Google to draw Israel as occupied Palestine in countries where the majority of people might hold that point of view?
reedlaw 17y ago
Top row's got the logo for the site, the city name (Shanghai), a link to change cities (they've most of the major ones in China), then buttons for McDonald's, hospitals, KFC's, banks, car dealerships, and higher education. The second row says "E address", measure distances, show bookmarks, correct errors, maximize; then there's a drop down called "frequently used places", and print. On the far right is a search widget with tabs labelled "Address search", bus search, yellow pages, and "E address". This is a remarkably useful app that I use frequently when I visit major cities. You can easily plot a subway or bus route with it. There are also photos of many buildings and a few 360 degree panoramas. I used it for apartment hunting once and I was astounded by the resemblance of the isometric drawings to the actual buildings. They must have hired a huge team of designers to make all this pixel art.

by jmatt 17y ago

siong1987 17y ago

This is the real map of Shanghai in 3D. If you noticed the three buttons at the top right of the frame, the first one is for 3D display. Second one is for 2D display. Last one is for satellite pics. These are so much info that I can parse from the map.

jaaron 17y ago
Just to be clear, the 2D map and the satellite pics are from the actual Google Maps for China: http://ditu.google.com/ http://ditu.google.com/
- jimmybot 17y ago
  What? Google makes a custom political map for China? A couple of years ago, they used to claim that they don't make custom products for any market and product rollouts are always worldwide. Compare with: http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&source=s_q&hl=en&geocode=&q=Taiwan&sll=37.0625,-95.677068&sspn=34.724817,66.621094&ie=UTF8&ll=22.71539,121.069336&spn=20.138545,33.310547&z=5 http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&source=s_q&hl=en&#38... Note that it's not just a matter of translation. First, they list Taiwan next to Hong Kong and Macau as if it's a peripheral part of China (this is surely China's wish, but the reality is that Taiwan is an independent democracy). Then, there's a line in the water to the east of Taiwan and extending elsewhere whose sole purpose is to imply regions to be part of China's territory that are not or are controversial. This line isn't used anywhere else in the world, such as say, in the Caribbean, where the boundaries of different islands might not be clear. I guess Google wants market share in China bad enough that they are willing to proffer multiple versions of truth.
  - tutwabee 17y ago
    This actually might not be a custom product. The website that is hosting this map could be using the Google Maps API with their own map of China. Would you call the special Google News censorship for China a custom product?
    - jimmybot 17y ago
      I actually had something specifically in mind. Google Taiwan had to fight to get special options onto the search page that could limit searches to Taiwanese websites ( http://www.google.com.tw/ http://www.google.com.tw/ ). Otherwise, most Mandarin language searches would be overwhelmed by results from China. The strong resistance they encountered at the time was that Google insisted on products being rolled out worldwide in a single version, minus minor variations like translations. It's also a question of ethics in this case. This is about data that Google is directly providing, not simply a matter of ranking or showing/not showing websites in their results. It's not serving the user a purple background because they like purple. Think about another possible case--would it be right for Google to draw Israel as occupied Palestine in countries where the majority of people might hold that point of view?

reedlaw 17y ago

Top row's got the logo for the site, the city name (Shanghai), a link to change cities (they've most of the major ones in China), then buttons for McDonald's, hospitals, KFC's, banks, car dealerships, and higher education. The second row says "E address", measure distances, show bookmarks, correct errors, maximize; then there's a drop down called "frequently used places", and print. On the far right is a search widget with tabs labelled "Address search", bus search, yellow pages, and "E address". This is a remarkably useful app that I use frequently when I visit major cities. You can easily plot a subway or bus route with it. There are also photos of many buildings and a few 360 degree panoramas. I used it for apartment hunting once and I was astounded by the resemblance of the isometric drawings to the actual buildings. They must have hired a huge team of designers to make all this pixel art.