Gawker
For the "streetview" feature of Google Maps, the search engine's agents tour around city neighborhoods in a discreet van. Sometimes they catch more than just identifiable landmarks. Here, on a notorious drug trafficking corner on the South Side of Chicago, Google shows what looks very much like a transaction between a black man in long shorts and a baseball cap, and a sedan, numberplate clearly visible. And, because the map-makers take panoramic photographs as they drive around, one can see the exchange from at least half a dozen angles, as the van approaches, and then looks back. Amazing. This scene has been floating around the web the last few days, but we've pulled together nine shots from different angles, or close-ups, from Google's map site. Enlarged versions are after the jump. (Incidentally, movie-makers have developed thrillers around clues buried in soundtracks (Blow Out) or videotape (Black Rain, for example). I'm waiting for the first mystery in which the clues are sprinkled across Google Maps, Flickr and all the other web sites on which we inadvertently appear.)
Try it yourself: here's an interactive map.
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"I'm waiting for the first mystery in which the clues are sprinkled across Google Maps, Flickr and all the other web sites on which we inadvertently appear."
I Know Julia Allison Killed Me
This'll be a "CSI" episode any minute now.
Way to be a narc, google.
"N'ah man, I was just buyin' gum!"
and a saloon, numberplate clearly visible.
Much to British for the dumb americans...I think Lord Denton meant to say "sedan."
I'm sorry but Worst Lookouts Ever.
Does no one see this odd looking like vehicle with a giant camera on its roof? C'mon, people. I'm slinging rocks here. At least cover me properly.
@planet_of_the_snapes: "Numberplate"! British people are adorable!
oh i don't know. maybe he's just buying up the last of those figure-flattering limited edition oversized white t-shirts. going by photos 2 and 3, they look to be like a pretty hot item out that way.
Okay, so after my last comment, I really was curious as to what this Street View Camera Vehicle looks like:
C'mon, guys. If this crazy looking bug coming down your stroll doesn't conjure up enough alarm to at least George Jefferson walk the other way real quick the second it hits the corner, then you get an instant fail in Basic Lookout 101.
These guys don't need The Ten Crack Commandments, they need an appointment at LensCrafters.
In New York, we have Taxi lines, in Chicago, they have dealer lines. Obama has clearly had it rougher than Clinton.
"Hey man, are you a cop?"
"No, but I think you should probably be more worried about the van that just drove by us with 10 cameras on its roof"
Umm, grew up in Chicago, and I swear Im not lying when I say that I used to buy drugs over there. NO LIE.
That guy wasn't buying crack. He was just stopping for directions on where to get the best Chicago-style deep dish pizza in the area.
Southside of Chicago...must be Leroy Brown.
It's probably just incredibly funny and crazy, but it might be incredibly racist to say "black dude at car + bad neighborhood = drug deal". He could be leaving lunch for his wife. Not sayin, just sayin. Is this from Pat Buchanan's blog?
@planet_of_the_snapes: @moff: It's how the "discreet van" got around - by dressing up as a plainclothes bobby.
Huh. And I just see a black man talking to a guy in a car while some kids nearby cross the street to the school that's right there. One time I talked to someone through a driver's side window too!
Sorry to be the asshat but its fairly obvious that they are dealing in baseball cards. In my hood, kids get jumped all the time for their baseball cards. My neighbor got broken into and those kids stole his baseball cards and a pack of gum. Thats why when you deal, you have a lookout watching your back. You see their hats? Those are White Sox caps. White, oversized tee with baggy "jorts?" That totally screams "baseball uniform." Can't a baseball fan get some peace? Who takes drugs anywayz? >:P
@planet_of_the_snapes: Much to his surprise?
Oh come on now! Clearly, the fellow in the 1978 Grand Marquis was lost and asking for directions. The young man in the hip hop attire was simply being a good citizen and helping the wayward driver find his way again . . .
Is anyone else kind of jealous of how crisp Chicago and San Francisco's street view pictures are compared to ones of New York?
@Choire: @drugman: Seriously. Why is this automatically a drug deal? This is a bunch of racist crap.
@Choire: Druggie.
@Choire: "Now, to get to Wrigley Field, you just follow the scent of bratwurst and kielbasa, and don't forget to tip the lot attendant when you get there!"
i'd kill myself if i had to live in that neighborhood
Doesn't cocaine/crack make you more alert/jumpy? Will I stop using this / slash thing anytime soon?
Perhaps this series of photos was introduced as evidence at an arraignment for the unidentified man in baggy jean shorts, white tee and baseball cap?
What is with the use of "a saloon" and "numberplate"?
Are you trying to be British or something?
@Choire: I can't even see that he's a black man. That's how progressive I've become.
@lawrence: Because of the expansive, verdant fields, wide thoroughfares and the sense of utter security in the gloaming?
I predict controversy.
I find it incredible that in this day and age everyone just assumes that a group of young black men standing around on a street corner in Chicago would not want to be photographed by the Google Maps VW while selling crack.
@Screen Name: Whilst. Whilst selling crack.
@In Other News...: That was beautiful. It was like you gloamed all over my face.
Kottke would totally love this post.
@Screen Name: It's like viral marketing 2.0.
@Choire: No, no. Can't be 39th and Vincennes. The car's not even up on blocks.
@iplaudius: If I didn't grow up a mile away, and hadn't bought drugs myself in the area, I might agree...
@iplaudius: Yeah, sorry about that. Need a tissue?
See that construction barrier? It's being used to hold a place for the local ZipCar.
Not to snipe (ha!) but would that be Blow Up, in which a clue was buried in a photograph, and The Conversation, in which a clue was buried in a recording?
And why is everyone dressed the same?
What neighborhoods are they making the Google driver dude drive through?? Isn't there liability issues invloved with driving around in gang territory with a camera pod on the roof??
@lawrence: I'd kill you if I lived in that neighborhood.
@In Other News...: Yeah, I should probably wipe it off now. Gloam is a dish best served warm.
@marvel girl: Yup.
[chicago.everyblock.com]
@marvel girl: I didn’t mean you—I would never question the criminological expertise of a superherione!
@The Liquor Fairy: Blow Out by Brian de Palma featured John Travolta as a soundman who inadvertently happened upon a murder.
Has anyone used this technology to get multi-angle views of laid-off NYT employees?
Reminds me of Blow-Up, a very good 60s movie. Starred...Vanessa Redgrave, I want to say. A man finds evidence of a murder buried deep inside the pictures he took at a park. It was adapted from a short story, might have been the inspiration for the Blow-Out movie in the post.
@Gayyker: they streetview'ed my building in brooklyn and you can see right in the front door. It's a bit spooky actually.
@SylviaPlathWasFramed: She meant that figuratively, prosecutors.
Blow Up, my ass. High Anxiety.
@iplaudius: Your skin is now, of course, gloaming.
I'm surprised you didn't make LOLdrugdealz out of this.
Exhibitionists in incredibly gay San Francisco engage in public fornication while trenchcoat mafia pervert looks on:
@sylviaplath
thank you for putting me out of my misery
@pssshwhatever: "Blow Up" was an Antonioni in which David Hemmings created a worldwide but thankfully brief craze for white jeans.
HEY THAT'S MY CAR!!!!!!!!!
@Screen Name:
How do you know that he's selling "crack"? Hmmm...
Inside that Torino is my cousin, Jackie. Tell him that you're my boy and that you're lost. He'll make sure you get where you're going.
You don't want to know from me. I'm not from this neighborhood.
I'm from the west side of Chicago, here on vacation.
@drugman: In San Fran, the Watchers wear black, and the double yellow lines merge and float, man.
Maybe the Google guys were looking to score. Bet they didn't have the camera on for that part.