while i am not a particular friend of google and their domination of content identification within the internet, i absolutely adore google street map. all the discussion around people being identifiable through it aside (i find it a serious issue but they ARE dealing with it), it is probably the best what has been offered by an online company since the invention of www.

i can't but wander along their lines through the streets of unknown cities, alongside U.S. coastlines or japanese highways... it's the next best thing to being able to travel to all these places, and it can be done in any coffee break at work! :-)

here in zurich, they are even using customized bicycles to reach into the smaller alleys and lanes of the old inner city; this guy here seemed to have temporarily lost his own way and was forced to ask a passerby for directions... ;-)

I found this great tool not too long ago when I was making preparations for my upcoming trip to Prague...I could actually virtually walk the streets and look at my hotel from the outside, and realize there was a tour company kiosk in front of it, to book my daytrip to Cesky Krumlov, with the bus leaving from right there... isn't that fantastic? But I am thinking, even if these maps get better, I would still want to go there in person...call me old fashioned. atszabo · 2010-10-01: 11:05

I`m not sure that would be the next best thing. so glad my next trip is not a substitute of life, but is reality. longimanus · 2010-10-02: 08:12

cool maharba · 2010-10-04: 21:38

Tagged: googlestreetmap greatinternetapplications zürich lostwhilemapping