BGSes in Google Maps?!

[yakra]

I was just checking out Google Maps in San Antonio, and there are totally little polygonal overlays on I-37 where the BGSes are.
Most awesomest thing ever ever!
Helped me put the little GMSV man right where I wanted him, yes sir!
SB @ Exit 141B

[NE2]

Heh. Someone had fun drawing them as buildings, I bet. Too bad that ramp looks like absolute shit, leaving at a 90 degree angle.

[Roadsguy]

I know. Google's new(?) mapping philosophy is to have a ramp split where the deceleration lane starts, not where the gore is, and to have freeways end at the last ramp peel-off, not the first intersection, but that weird ramp is just ridiculous.

OSM + pipe-dreamy, unlikely satellite view = best map ever

[cpzilliacus]

I know. Google's new(?) mapping philosophy is to have a ramp split where the deceleration lane starts, not where the gore is, and to have freeways end at the last ramp peel-off, not the first intersection, but that weird ramp is just ridiculous.

Almost reminds me of the original, 1990's versions of the U.S. Census Bureau's TIGER (Topologically Integrated Geographic Encoding and Referencing) files, on which I believe OSM was originally based.

Lots of ugly stuff in those files (especially cloverleaf interchanges).

[NE2]

Almost reminds me of the original, 1990's versions of the U.S. Census Bureau's TIGER (Topologically Integrated Geographic Encoding and Referencing) files, on which I believe OSM was originally based.

And Google. A lot of the street names in rural areas still come from TIGER (e.g. the "county roads" here). But this ramp geometry doesn't look like anything TIGER has.

[vdeane]

I suspect that Google doesn't have many unified practices any more since the rise of map maker.  Everything is to the whim of each person who submits approved changes.  There is now a culture of "draw it from the satellite imagery" these days; matching the map to the imagery is more important than having an accurate map.

[Roadsguy]

Which is why if the imagery shows construction, and it's finished by now (like the ICC), they're out of luck, so they just scribble all over it.

[NE2]

You get that in OSM too. Someone offered to "fix" the under-construction part of SR 429 by re-drawing the recently-demolished former alignment, since it's still open on the aerials

[vtk]

This is actually a side-effect of someone making the BGSes appear in Google Earth:



There are also signs for several businesses and a couple of billboards – most with recognizable brands – appearing as 3D buildings in the background of this shot.

[Henry]

This is actually a side-effect of someone making the BGSes appear in Google Earth:



There are also signs for several businesses and a couple of billboards — most with recognizable brands — appearing as 3D buildings in the background of this shot.

Nice! I wonder what the link is that would make them look like that.