Planet Forward: Smart people, smart iedas. Online and on TV.

A Street With a View

Posted by Janelle Nanos on December 9, 2008
(13)
More »

Sometimes, I think I’ve become almost too reliant on Google Maps to help me find my way. Last weekend, I was out with a friend trying to get to Mount Vernon to see the holiday decorations at George Washington’s home. We plugged the place name into my friend’s iPhone and started driving, and it wasn’t until we pulled up to the Pirates Cove Waterpark (closed for the season) that we realized we’d been Googleduped (a phrase I’m coining here, for lack of better options).

So I was tickled when I came across the Street with a View project, a collection of folks in Pittsburgh who teamed up with the Google Maps Street Team to present a more interesting glimpse into the lives of some city residents who live, work, and play along one alleyway. Spearheaded by two art school grads of Carnegie Mellon University, Ben Kinsley and Robin Hewlett, and taking a page from the Improv Everywhere gang, the group staged a marathon, a parade, a mad-scientists laboratory, and a sword fight all along the route. The Google Maps crew captured their antics as they drove down the street, and the results can now be found on the actual Street View of Sampsonia Way.

I think it’s brilliant, and a fun way to inject some personality into the Google Maps experience. If there had been an actual pirate waiting for me at Pirates Cove, I would not have been nearly as upset at being Googleduped.

Have you been Googleduped? Tell us about it in the comments below.

Keywords: , , , , ,
(13)
More »

Related Links

Comments

  1. Noah
    December 9, 2008, 3:49 pm

    AWESOME. Seriously, way awesome.
    Don’t miss the escape attempt or the dude rocking out.

  2. Marilyn Terrell
    December 9, 2008, 4:56 pm

    Oh, I missed those! Thanks Noah!

  3. John
    December 11, 2008, 3:32 pm

    The guys name is not Ben KINGSLEY it’s Ben Kinsely
    Kingsley is the actor.

  4. Marilyn Terrell
    December 12, 2008, 12:43 am

    Fixed! Thanks John.

  5. Collin
    December 12, 2008, 4:32 pm

    Google leading you astray = getting “SCREWGLED”

  6. Phil
    January 29, 2009, 11:43 pm

    There is also Scout’s Ham costume from To Kill A Mocking Bird at the end of the street.

  7. Moon
    May 3, 2009, 8:43 pm

    I love how if you go to google street view on sampsonia way, you can see the guy shooting the footage for youtube.

  8. HusKer
    June 21, 2010, 11:16 pm

    The Google Maps crew captured their antics as they drove down the street, and the results can now be found on the actual Street View of Sampsonia Way.
    auto shipping online quote
    I think it’s brilliant, and a fun way to inject some personality into the Google Maps experience. If there had been an actual pirate waiting for me at Pirates Cove, I would not have been nearly as upset at being Googleduped.

  9. Suzette C
    July 7, 2010, 10:08 pm

    I think it’s brilliant, and a fun way to inject some personality into the Google Maps car transport experience.

  10. Sarah
    August 4, 2010, 12:09 pm

    I think it’s brilliant, and a fun way to inject some personality into the Google Maps experience.

  12. Oscar Mild
    February 13, 2011, 4:49 am

    This is fantastic, way to go for Google to get involved with the community. I hope they’ll come down to New Zealand to spread the technology here also. See also Huskies for sale

  13. Franz Gunter
    February 20, 2011, 9:37 am

    This goes to show you, that it’s not worth relying on new technology to solve all one’s problems. What about good old maps? litauisch übersetzer