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Tag: 45

  • Google Maps Gives 19 More Cities 45° Imagery

    Google Maps has updated the imagery for 19 more cities so as to offer 45° angles in addition to the standard 90° view. This round, there are 8 international locations and 11 locations in the United States. This update is noteworthy because, according to the Lat Long Blog, this is the first time that a city in France has been treated to some 45° goodness.

    The full list follows.

    International: Avignon, France; Reus, Spain; Rotterdam, Netherlands; L’Alcudia, Spain; Gandia, Spain; Sueca, Spain; Burgos, Spain; Los Palacios y Villafranca, Spain

    United States: Albany, GA; Omaha, NE; Baytown, TX; Miami, FL; Amarillo, TX; Monroe, LA; Manchester, NH; Alexandria, LA; Rapid City, SD; Loudon, TN; Farmington, NM

    I always like to take these new updates for a spin and find landmarks in places I’ve never even thought to visit, let alone thought of much at all. I’m an east coast girl so when it comes to traveling out west, I usually yawn and roll back towards the sunrise. However, I spent some time snooping around in the skies of Omaha, Nebraska, and it doesn’t look terribly different from the city I live in now. In the example below, you can see a pretty sharp view of the football stadium for the University of Nebraska Mavericks. Too bad there wasn’t anything going on this day, but the landscaping crew have done a great job of keeping up on things. You pass with full marks, team.


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    While playing around trying to find a fun landmark to feature with the 45° update in Miami, Florida, I discovered that much of the city is not available yet with this feature. At any rate, I couldn’t find something fun that fell within the update, so here’s a picture of a Carnival cruise ship that, sadly, you’re currently not on.


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    To correct that lack of excitement and potential malaise you felt when you indeed realized you weren’t on that cruise ship, I invite you now to take in the views of this gnarly gothic building in Avignon, France: Palais de Papes. As if you couldn’t infer, the English translation of the building is “Palace of the Popes” and, obviously, it is a towering monument in all its medieval architecture glory.


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  • Google Maps: 15 More Cities With 45° Imagery

    Taking a break from offering wild interpretations of Street View adventures, Google Maps today announced that 45° imagery has been added to 15 more cities: 13 in the United States, 1 in Australia, and 1 in Argentina.

    One of the more interesting places in this 45° batch, Córdoba, Argentina, features the Córdoba Cathedral, a peculiar piece of architecture that includes contributions from baroque, neoclassical, and Romanesque (it’s what happens when a place takes 200 years to be constructed). You’ll notice the interesting outline (almost like a chalk drawing, really) of the cathedral on the concrete before its facade.


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    Atlanta, Georgia, is another city included in this update, which has tons of sights to see. One place of note is one of the largest providers for dentists and dietitians throughout the United States: The World of Coca Cola. It’s basically the Willy Wonka’s chocolate factory of soft drinks where you can try different Coke products from around the world, play with animatronic polar bears, and marvel at historic Coca-Cola memorabilia.


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    I was going to feature the Johnson Space Center that’s in Houston, Texas, as that city was listed as being included in this update but… the space center still looks non-45° so instead, here’s a view of the Houston Zoo. Below, you can spy on some long-necked mammals that probably aren’t giraffes but, rather, the successful yield of the zoo’s genetic experimentation (actually, they’re probably giraffes).


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    Here’s the full list of cities included in the update.

    United States: Atlanta, GA; Canyon Lake, TX; Charleston, SC; Dallas, TX; Houston, TX; Lakeland, FL; Lubbock, TX; Orlando, FL; Port Charlotte, FL; Roanoke, TX; San Luis Obispo, CA; Smyrna, TN; Walker, LA

    Australia: Adelaide.

    Argentina: Córdoba.

  • Google Introduces More 45

    Between them, overhead satellite images and Street View photos tend to provide Google Maps users with a pretty complete picture of an area.  But – following in Bing’s footsteps – Google began to offer 45° imagery last year, and today, Google introduced images of ten new areas.

    Miss the initial announcement?  45° imagery is about the same as what Bing Maps labeled a "Bird’s Eye" view: just a diagonal, rather than straight-down, look at buildings and landscapes.  It’s not available even close to everywhere yet, but you can find the option under the "Satellite" tab when 45° pics have been taken.

    As for what’s new, people who live in or plan to visit California should be pleased to hear that there’s coverage of Contra Costa County, Escondido, Long Beach, and Van Nuys.

    Otherwise, fresh pictures are available of Albuquerque, NM, New Orleans, LA, Norfolk, VA (example above), San Antonio, TX, St. Petersburg, FL, and Tucson, AZ.

    A post on the LatLong Blog stated, "We wish you well as you embark on your virtual trips around the U.S. viewing these and other interesting sites.  And stay tuned because there’s plenty more to come in 2011!"

  • Google Delves Into 45

    Google Delves Into 45

    Satellite views of a town are often neat – until you realize it’s hard to recognize places by their rooftops.  So Google seems to have made a wise (and possibly Microsoft-inspired) update to Google Maps by releasing what it simply calls "45° imagery."

    45° imagery is quite similar to what Microsoft/Bing Maps has termed a "Bird’s Eye" view.  Or, in fairness to Google, it’s just what you get when Street View and a top-down view are sort of averaged out.

    Anyway, a post on the LatLong Blog explained, "This type of imagery allows you to explore the sides of buildings and other locations — you can even rotate around a particular point of interest using the compass ring to view it from four different perspectives."

    As for how the feature works, "To see the new imagery, simply zoom into an area while in Satellite mode.  Where we have 45° imagery available, the imagery will switch from an overhead to 45° angle as you zoom all the way in.  You can then pan smoothly across the map to get a richer view of the area."

    Just note that 45° imagery isn’t available everywhere (or even close to it) at the moment.  Google thought it better to release the feature now and expand its coverage in the months ahead.