Gawker: Google Maps

Embarrassing Moment Captured For The Internet To See

rebecca — Wed, 23 Apr 2008 16:24:14 EDT

First Google Maps' "streetview" captured a drug deal. Now the accidental Big Brother has found something even funnier: A bike tumble in Australia. From all of us in New York, to whoever you are Down Under: Ha-ha. [via Kensington Victoria]

Touré Has Lost Any Possible Street Cred

rebecca — Mon, 24 Mar 2008 14:46:20 EDT

Fort Greene is not gentrifying fast enough! At least that's the experience of cultural critic and dude about town Touré. The single-named author was living right across from a crackhouse on South Oxford street in Fort Greene, only a block away South Portland, Time Out New York's most desirable place to live in 2006. But even with a sushi place on the next corner, there was still a crack house across from his apartment. After a bout of black liberal guilt, Touré tried to get the po-po to clear the streets, but they ignored his calls. We don't judge Touré's conflicted anti-neighborhood crack house stance—since the advent of Google Maps, Mole Edition, we are all snitches now. [NYT]

A Drug Deal Caught From Every Angle

Nick Denton — Mon, 24 Mar 2008 13:32:45 EDT

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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