Crazy things you've found in Google StreetView

[Big John]

Oh man I just found this and hoped there would be a thread here for crazy stuff in GSV.  The forum delivered.
And now this! https://goo.gl/maps/7LjVJC7c3N72

The amusing thing isn't the sign, it's the fact that they flipped a "W" upside down. Clever, but can someone also call Will Swith for the other type of cookie?

and the M is flipped upside down 3 times.

[wxfree]

In the "not crazy, but notable" column, I've found that Street View includes some hiking trails.  I'm referring to step-by-step progressive imagery, not single-point photographs.  In Texas, I've found this in the Guadalupe Mountains and Big Bend National Parks and in the Enchanted Rock, Palo Duro Canyon, and Caprock Canyons State Parks.

Here's the view from Guadalupe Peak.  It goes further west toward the escarpment.  For some reason, part of the trail just below the peak isn't there, but it shows up further down, near the campground trail.
https://goo.gl/maps/CoVSiZoVQZ92

[freebrickproductions]

In the "not crazy, but notable" column, I've found that Street View includes some hiking trails.  I'm referring to step-by-step progressive imagery, not single-point photographs.  In Texas, I've found this in the Guadalupe Mountains and Big Bend National Parks and in the Enchanted Rock, Palo Duro Canyon, and Caprock Canyons State Parks.

Here's the view from Guadalupe Peak.  It goes further west toward the escarpment.  For some reason, part of the trail just below the peak isn't there, but it shows up further down, near the campground trail.
https://goo.gl/maps/CoVSiZoVQZ92

Yep. They've done it in the Grand Canyon too. What Google does is pay some guy to carry the Google Street View camera and related equipment on his back in a backpack: https://www.google.com/maps/streetview/understand/

[US 41]

In the "not crazy, but notable" column, I've found that Street View includes some hiking trails.  I'm referring to step-by-step progressive imagery, not single-point photographs.  In Texas, I've found this in the Big Bend National Park.

The Big Bend Nat'l Park is my favorite national park that I've visited. I've hiked some of the trails captured on street view. I love hiking in the canyons and seeing all the desert scenery. When I was there in February it appeared that there had been a wildfire of some sort southeast of Panther Junction based on all the burnt up cacti.

The coolest part of the park is that you can cross over into Mexico. I was surprised that my guide from Boquillas that I had back in February remembered me when I came back. It makes me wonder if Boquillas gets very many visitors. I've heard that the BBNP only gets 300K visitors per year and I can imagine that very few of those visitors cross over into Mexico.

[wxfree]

In the "not crazy, but notable" column, I've found that Street View includes some hiking trails.  I'm referring to step-by-step progressive imagery, not single-point photographs.  In Texas, I've found this in the Big Bend National Park.

The Big Bend Nat'l Park is my favorite national park that I've visited. I've hiked some of the trails captured on street view. I love hiking in the canyons and seeing all the desert scenery. When I was there in February it appeared that there had been a wildfire of some sort southeast of Panther Junction based on all the burnt up cacti.

The coolest part of the park is that you can cross over into Mexico. I was surprised that my guide from Boquillas that I had back in February remembered me when I came back. It makes me wonder if Boquillas gets very many visitors. I've heard that the BBNP only gets 300K visitors per year and I can imagine that very few of those visitors cross over into Mexico.

I love the Big Bend.  I wonder how much Google's equipment weighs, because it would be really fun to hike much of the park with it and brag about getting the imagery.  If it's legal, I'd also take it to Boquillas.

[freebrickproductions]

Speaking of Google Trekkers, here's one on Google Street View:
https://www.google.com/maps/@37.8263576,-122.4220995,3a,45.3y,167.3h,74.18t/data=!3m4!1e1!3m2!1sTXd_7mkEcgsN9yGGWzAYpg!2e0
And here's the equipment without anyone wearing it:
https://www.google.com/maps/@37.8263131,-122.42214,3a,29.6y,100.17h,63.54t/data=!3m4!1e1!3m2!1sDxzRhg1uXNkgBpDd_o--pg!2e0

[bandit957]

At 11th & Russell in Covington KY, there's a guy riding a bike with his BUTT HANGING OUT...

https://goo.gl/maps/nAGGGT8JPUq

[SignGeek101]

How about a town being destroyed:

June 2013:


July 2015:


It was caused by an explosion of a passing train carrying petroleum. The Streetview car showed the former downtown is closed to the public, as of that image date.

[Pete from Boston]

How about a town being destroyed:

June 2013:


July 2015:


It was caused by an explosion of a passing train carrying petroleum. The Streetview car showed the former downtown is closed to the public, as of that image date.

Wow.  I've been there since the explosion but the before and after is really chilling.  47 people in the "before" buildings died horrific deaths. 

There was a cleared part (destroyed in the explosion and fire) and an intact part when I was there in 2014.  The intact part was frozen in time, like people were there yesterday.  I believe that part had to be demolished anyway because contaminated soil had to be removed to a great depth.

[paulthemapguy]

If you want to talk about towns being destroyed, take a look around the southern half of Joplin, Missouri, which was destroyed by a behemoth of a tornado (EF5, as high as the scale goes) in May 2011.  At this particular location, GSV shows October 2007 and June 2012.  I stopped there on a road trip in May 2012, a year after the storm, to see how the town was rebuilding.  I saw scenes a lot like the June 2012 imagery you see on GSV... Look at Oct 2007 and compare it with Jun 2012
https://www.google.com/maps/@37.0660922,-94.4879564,3a,75y,102.14h,84.33t/data=!3m7!1e1!3m5!1s6X1ovr-bXArZZYYQa9nN9Q!2e0!5s20120601T000000!7i13312!8i6656

[cl94]

How about a town being destroyed:

June 2013:


July 2015:


It was caused by an explosion of a passing train carrying petroleum. The Streetview car showed the former downtown is closed to the public, as of that image date.

Wow.  I've been there since the explosion but the before and after is really chilling.  47 people in the "before" buildings died horrific deaths. 

There was a cleared part (destroyed in the explosion and fire) and an intact part when I was there in 2014.  The intact part was frozen in time, like people were there yesterday.  I believe that part had to be demolished anyway because contaminated soil had to be removed to a great depth.

Yeah, the entire downtown area had to be torn down due to soil contamination. Some parts of the area will take several years to clean. Some places may never be safe to build on again. Quite horrific that such a tragedy could happen in this day and age.

[freebrickproductions]

How about a town being destroyed:

June 2013:


July 2015:


It was caused by an explosion of a passing train carrying petroleum. The Streetview car showed the former downtown is closed to the public, as of that image date.

Funnily enough, I had just recently posted about that on another forum I'm part of a few days ago (though I'm linking one of the responses to the post I had made, since the post I had made contained a lot of links to other areas):
http://rxrsignals.com/Phpbb3/viewtopic.php?f=13&t=203&start=1320#p21052

[Pete from Boston]

To put the impact of this event in context, a study of local residents a year later found that 54% suffered from conditions like depression and post-traumatic stress disorder. Residents were also found to be four times more likely to drink to excess.

44 buildings were destroyed, 169 people made homeless.  27 children lost one or both parents.

Just awful.

I was there the day the new replacement supermarket opened, shortly after the new bridge opened that relieved a 12.5-km detour to cross the town.  So there's progress.

Beautiful area.  Go spend some money there if you have the chance.

[cl94]

I want to get up there. Part of my mother's family is from the area. I just don't speak French.

[jeffandnicole]

If you want to talk about towns being destroyed, take a look around the southern half of Joplin, Missouri, which was destroyed by a behemoth of a tornado (EF5, as high as the scale goes) in May 2011.  At this particular location, GSV shows October 2007 and June 2012.  I stopped there on a road trip in May 2012, a year after the storm, to see how the town was rebuilding.  I saw scenes a lot like the June 2012 imagery you see on GSV... Look at Oct 2007 and compare it with Jun 2012
https://www.google.com/maps/@37.0660922,-94.4879564,3a,75y,102.14h,84.33t/data=!3m7!1e1!3m5!1s6X1ovr-bXArZZYYQa9nN9Q!2e0!5s20120601T000000!7i13312!8i6656

Wow.  I had to go back and forth a few times just to be convinced they were from the same spot.  Turn the camera around 180' or so and you'll still find a garage with a red X on it and numbers spray-painted on the house.

[empirestate]

How about a town being destroyed:

June 2013:


July 2015:


It was caused by an explosion of a passing train carrying petroleum. The Streetview car showed the former downtown is closed to the public, as of that image date.

Wow.  I've been there since the explosion but the before and after is really chilling.  47 people in the "before" buildings died horrific deaths. 

There was a cleared part (destroyed in the explosion and fire) and an intact part when I was there in 2014.  The intact part was frozen in time, like people were there yesterday.  I believe that part had to be demolished anyway because contaminated soil had to be removed to a great depth.

I think the most chilling part of this is that the town is gone, yet the railroad remains.

[freebrickproductions]

How about a town being destroyed:

June 2013:


July 2015:


It was caused by an explosion of a passing train carrying petroleum. The Streetview car showed the former downtown is closed to the public, as of that image date.

Wow.  I've been there since the explosion but the before and after is really chilling.  47 people in the "before" buildings died horrific deaths. 

There was a cleared part (destroyed in the explosion and fire) and an intact part when I was there in 2014.  The intact part was frozen in time, like people were there yesterday.  I believe that part had to be demolished anyway because contaminated soil had to be removed to a great depth.

I think the most chilling part of this is that the town is gone, yet the railroad remains.

Well the Maine, Montreal, & Atlantic was shut down as a result of the explosion, though a new railroad took over the operations of their lines.

[jeffandnicole]

How about a town being destroyed:

June 2013:


July 2015:


It was caused by an explosion of a passing train carrying petroleum. The Streetview car showed the former downtown is closed to the public, as of that image date.

Wow.  I've been there since the explosion but the before and after is really chilling.  47 people in the "before" buildings died horrific deaths. 

There was a cleared part (destroyed in the explosion and fire) and an intact part when I was there in 2014.  The intact part was frozen in time, like people were there yesterday.  I believe that part had to be demolished anyway because contaminated soil had to be removed to a great depth.

I think the most chilling part of this is that the town is gone, yet the railroad remains.

Well the Maine, Montreal, & Atlantic was shut down as a result of the explosion, though a new railroad took over the operations of their lines.

It does appear two rail lines that broke off from the main line in the grassy field were completely removed though.

[Pete from Boston]

The tracks had to be rebuilt like everything else. As for speaking French, I don't speak French, but can fake a few phrases. You'll get along OK.  Go to the top of Mont Mégantic while you're there.  Lovely people, lovely area.

[kphoger]

Ski slope coverage at Monarch Mountain, Colorado

[kkt]

Ski slope coverage at Monarch Mountain, Colorado

Wow, I want a job where I get paid to ski with a camera.

[CNGL-Leudimin]

Ski slope coverage at Monarch Mountain, Colorado

At first glance I didn't get what you meant. There are a couple ski stations in my area covered by Street Ski Slope View: https://www.google.es/maps/@42.7884339,-0.5282,13z. Good luck trying to stay out of the tunnel...

[freebrickproductions]

Ski slope coverage at Monarch Mountain, Colorado

Looks like they took a snow mobile down the slopes.

[freebrickproductions]

Someone clearly didn't pay attention:
https://www.google.com/maps/@40.2074889,-74.7641484,3a,66.8y,1.01h,71.27t/data=!3m4!1e1!3m2!1s6HCnOSIyfFN0vQg_ss4JJw!2e0

[vdeane]

Or they just don't care.