Google Street View

[vdeane]

Got this from the student announcement system for my college.  Did someone from Google Maps graduate from Clarkson or something?  I think it's intersting that the middle of nowhere Clarkson is getting high res imagery before the rest of the US (aside from California and large cities) (though there's precedent - they do have Antarctica after all).

Google Street View will visit campus this Monday, August 8, and begin the process of enhancing the views of Clarkson available on Google Maps.

Google uses their Street View technology to shoot images using a fleet of specially adapted cars. The car is equipped with nine directional cameras mounted at about eight feet above the vehicle. The cameras will capture a 360-degree view as they travel through campus.

In addition to capturing an external view of campus, a camera will also shoot images inside the Student Center and Cheel Arena, while on campus.

Upon completion of the project, these images will be available through Google Maps and Google Earth when individuals choose to enable Street View.

To see an example of Street View, go to http://www.google.com/maps, type in "Potsdam, NY," and click on the blue box to the right. Then drag the little orange-person icon to any street shaded in yellow on the map.

We appreciate your cooperation as we assist in enhancing the view of Clarkson offered through Google's mapping services. It will surely be of interest to our alumni and prospective students.

Maybe while they're at it they'll realize that they need to update the buildings on campus.  They've been outdated never right (where's Woodstock Village?) for quite a while now.

Interestingly, St. Lawrence county isn't listed on the list of locations where they're currently driving

[Hot Rod Hootenanny]

No Geography Dept there at Clarkson University?

[vdeane]

We have two geographers, one of which is actually the Honors and Clarkson School Director and doesn't teach anything other thesis stuff for the Honors students.  We're an engineering, science, and business school, so there isn't much in the liberal arts.  In fact, most of us pretend the liberal arts majors don't exist (intentionally or not, which is really easy because there are so few of them; I don't think I even know ANY pure liberal arts majors).

[pianocello]

So how long does it take between the taking of the pics and the posting on the web?

[huskeroadgeek]

So how long does it take between the taking of the pics and the posting on the web?

I think it may vary. The only area I know definitively about the period between taking pictures and posting on the site is the streets around my house. When the streets around my house showed up on Street View, it was about 3-5 months after the pictures were taken. I don't know the exact date, but based on the position of the sun and the fact that all foliage is in full bloom, the pictures on streets around my house were taken in late spring/early summer of 2009 and they showed up in fall 2009. But I don't know if that time period is common or not.

[Dr Frankenstein]

6 months sounds accurate from my observations.

I crossed the Street View car on the (half closed) Mercier Bridge last Friday. We'll see when my car shows up on the photos.

[cu2010]

Maybe while they're at it they'll realize that they need to update the buildings on campus.  They've been outdated never right (where's Woodstock Village?) for quite a while now.

Kinda hard to keep it up to date when the Science Center is sliding downhill a few inches per year... 

(Though, I really hope that they didn't get images of Woodstock Village...that place is a dump.)

[vdeane]

Got this from the student announcement system for my college.  Did someone from Google Maps graduate from Clarkson or something?  I think it's intersting that the middle of nowhere Clarkson is getting high res imagery before the rest of the US (aside from California and large cities) (though there's precedent - they do have Antarctica after all).

Google Street View will visit campus this Monday, August 8, and begin the process of enhancing the views of Clarkson available on Google Maps.

Google uses their Street View technology to shoot images using a fleet of specially adapted cars. The car is equipped with nine directional cameras mounted at about eight feet above the vehicle. The cameras will capture a 360-degree view as they travel through campus.

In addition to capturing an external view of campus, a camera will also shoot images inside the Student Center and Cheel Arena, while on campus.

Upon completion of the project, these images will be available through Google Maps and Google Earth when individuals choose to enable Street View.

To see an example of Street View, go to http://www.google.com/maps, type in "Potsdam, NY," and click on the blue box to the right. Then drag the little orange-person icon to any street shaded in yellow on the map.

We appreciate your cooperation as we assist in enhancing the view of Clarkson offered through Google's mapping services. It will surely be of interest to our alumni and prospective students.

Maybe while they're at it they'll realize that they need to update the buildings on campus.  They've been outdated never right (where's Woodstock Village?) for quite a while now.

Interestingly, St. Lawrence county isn't listed on the list of locations where they're currently driving

It took them a year and a half, but this is actually online now.  Looks like Google made the street view imagery conform to the driver's path a little too closely.  Too bad they didn't take imagery on the way up and back; the north country could use it.  They never did get those inside views, though.

EDIT: And now I know why Clarkson's construction track record is terrible... this imagery was taken just three weeks before move-in, and those buildings aren't even close to ready to house students!

[NE2]

Go forward and revel in the "oops".

[vdeane]

Go forward and revel in the "oops".

If you turn the camera around at the other end of the "oops" there's even a ghost man!

[NE2]

I took a closer look, and the sequence of events is really bugging me. Photos approaching the underpass are southbound, but I think the oops photos were taken northbound, except for the one where he pulled over to fix it. In other words, oops, he did it again.

[NJRoadfan]

Oops again: http://goo.gl/maps/B43om
More oops ahead, don't ask how the camera is broken before and after the bridge: http://goo.gl/maps/fXYfj

[dfwmapper]

My favorite part is getting the camera in the wacky angle, pointing it to look forward, and then pressing the left or right arrow.

[vdeane]

Oops again: http://goo.gl/maps/B43om
More oops ahead, don't ask how the camera is broken before and after the bridge: http://goo.gl/maps/fXYfj

The driver is probably tilting the camera down so the car can fit under the bridge.   Street view cars are more than twice as tall as a regular car because the camera is 5-6 feet over the roof.

[empirestate]

Oops again: http://goo.gl/maps/B43om
More oops ahead, don't ask how the camera is broken before and after the bridge: http://goo.gl/maps/fXYfj

The driver is probably tilting the camera down so the car can fit under the bridge.   Street view cars are more than twice as tall as a regular car because the camera is 5-6 feet over the roof.

Which, of course, suggests these aren't actually "oops" at all...

[NE2]

My oops.

[adventurernumber1]

Now this has got to be an "oops." https://m.flickr.com/#/photos/127322363@N08/15638848019/

I totally forgot about this pic I took when I was trying to do street view on a portion of US 45 in Tennessee a few months ago. Now this is just weird..