I don’t think I’m alone in using Google Streetview to check out places I’d like to travel to (like the New Orleans Garden District, Paris or Hawaii). It has to be some of the best armchair traveling out there, as close as you can get to walking down a street and checking things out without actually being there.
Cool on its own, there could be other ways to integrate this:
* Integration of Google Streetview within a site that was location-focused, like Summit on the Summit, scavenger hunts, travel-related, etc.
* Using Google Streetview to encourage armchair traveling. Show cool locations to explore within Streetview, offer suggestions along the way.
* Streetview of any event our client was involved in (may take a partnership with Google and would only be suitable for certain kinds of events, like music festivals etc)
Here’s a great resource showcasing creative uses of Google products.
You’ve probably seen a lot of these before but might find handy to have in one place.
You can also filter by the different products i.e Google Maps, Google Earth, Youtube API, Gadget Ads etc.
Internet users in Turkey are protesting against web censorship laws in their country by staging a ‘virtual protest walk’ on Google maps in Istanbul Taksim Square. They are aiming to walk to the parliament house in Akara, pixel by pixel. Using Google docs ‘anyone can edit’ function, protesters are able to edit the document and put her or himself on the map in support of the cause.
A demonstration of Google Maps Navigation (Beta), an internet-connected GPS navigation system that provides turn-by-turn voice guidance as a free feature of Google Maps on Android 2.0 phones.
The Editors have used Google Street View as a channel to promote their new album ‘In this light and on this Evening’. It’s moody, and works because the locations have relevance to the songs, and google street view naturally makes you want to explore and look around anyway.
It would’ve been cool if they brought in even more of a social, conversational layer to the app that allows you to engage even more — for example, pulling in live conversations, fan comments about the album directly into the overlay? A Facebook, Twitter or Share icon under the buy now from ‘iTunes’ link (which is good) would’ve added a lot.
“This is how it works: a cleverly hacked version of Google Street View allows users to preview tracks from the album in the areas of London that inspired them. As well as being able to move around as you would in the normal Google Street View, there are red arrows to find in nine different London locations (one for each track of the album) that each point to a location off the road – click it to find custom panoramic photographs of the band, shot at night by photographer James Royall.
“The modified version of Google Maps uses a custom Flash and JavaScript wrapper which employs some clever hacks on top of the Google Maps and Street View APIs. The images feature the band and a group of their fans performing surreal activities which have cryptic meanings relating to the songs,” explains Phil Clandillon, creative director at Sony Music. “The locations are normally unavailable on the regular Street View,” he continues. “Our modified version of Google Maps allows users to enter into these locations and make the transition from light to dark so fans can explore the band’s atmospheric vision of London at night.” (From: Creative Review)
I’d really love to see this on a street level. Wouldn’t it be interesting to see what events and things people are talking about all over downtown? It could be real-time local crowd-sourced news, block by block. Or you know, just people talking about last night’s TV premieres. Either way, it’d be an interesting representation of what’s happening in your neighborhood.
Interesting driving community + site developed by Michelin/Martin Agency which they’re calling ‘an online gathering place for those who live for the thrill of the drive.
‘The Nation of GO combines Google Maps with our own mobile mapping application to make plotting your favorite roads and trails easy,”
Accompanying the new site will be the social networking-oriented Nation of GO Tour, which will travel the U.S. to drive consumer awareness and encourage participation. Consumers and dealers can follow the tour online by visiting the NationofGO.com site, the Nation of GO Tour blog (blog.nationofgo.com), Twitter (twitter.com/nationofgo) and YouTube (youtube.com/nationofgo). (via: Tire Review)
Thought this partnership between Google Maps and Monopoly was a brilliant way to make a old school brand relevant today.
Hasbro has created an online Monopoly competition using Google Maps. You can buy any street in the world and build houses, sports stadiums, and skyscrapers. The winner gains the title of richest property magnate in existence. This was developed by Tribal DDB as a promotion for Hasbro and the competition starts Wednesday, September 9th.
From the Google maps blog: On Google Maps, we try to label important places directly on the map tiles. But sometimes, it seems more helpful to just click on a point and ask “What’s here?“.
Now you can do exactly that with an option we’ve added under the right-click menu. When you click on “What’s here?”, we give you the most relevant result representing that location, whether it’s a specific address, a natural entity, or a place name.
For example, if you’re zoomed in closely on Manhattan, you can get the full address of a point by clicking on “What’s here?” Additionally, by combining this with the “At this address” feature that you may have seen in the left-hand panel, you can also see a list of the businesses located at that place.
Coronation street is a classic UK TV soap that first aired 50 years ago, and still continues to win new generations of viewers today.
Now, thanks to Google Street View, Corrie fans will be able to see 360-degree images of the famous Street where the show is filmed by Google’s street car – making it the first TV soap to be featured on GS View.
The pictures captured by the car will be processed and carefully stitched together to create a 360-degree view of the famous Street.
You might also remember this example from last year. ‘Street with a View’ was an awesome community building project orchestrated by Robin Hewlett and Ben Kinsley.
Coordinating a series of marching bands, a 17th century sword fight and more, to roam around Sampsonia Way – a neighborhood located in the north of Pittsburgh while being filmed by the Google Street Car.
