Did you know that??? Google Maps knows....

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Paul N

Paul N

SPFG, Supreme Picture Framing God
Joined
Jun 10, 2005
Posts
17,354
Loc
CT, not far from the LI Sound
If you use Google Maps (maps.google.com), do you know that it has Traffic option, showing real time traffic??

Read this and then hit the road ......:p Google Maps Mobile Users Send Traffic Data

How cool and useful is that!!

google-maps-traffic.png
 
Yea and if you have a phone with the Google Android operating system, this is already built in. You have to click navigation options, map layers, and turn it on.

Street level view is also built in to display in navigation or maps, so you can put in an address and look around AT STREET LEVEL ; as if you were standing there. You just aim in the direction you want, and the internal compass adjusts to show that direction. You can see the faces of buildings, up and down the street, etc. (The photos are not real-time, they were as of the last time a google camera vehicle crawled your street) It's amazing, actually. You can do street view on google's website, also, by moving around with arrows.

Sample from Android phone: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Ix18uRkzPU

Sample from google.com: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yx7arHbQkKA&feature=related

If your shop is listed in google maps or google buzz, it'll also appear on the map. People can click your icon to read or give reviews, to leave comments, to call you immediately, to go to your website, to see a street level view showing the face of your buiding, to get coupons, to navigate immediately to the business, etc.

Mike
 
You can also overlay the map with real estate listings, web cams, and Wikipedia entries.

The real estate feature is really handy because you can zoom into the area you are interested in, then see what is available; and I can see that my neighbor is selling his place!

SanClemente-1.jpg
 
Man, I don't know if anyone else shares this opinion, but Google is totally creeping me out with their Big Brother take-over of the world. If I saw them filming near me I would have a desire to get out my trusty sling-shot and break their lenses.

*shudder*
 
Actually Mar, Google is the most benign of powerful companies.

All that you see here can be obtained by anyone. What Google is doing, is they harness it and put to good use.

The phone and cable companies have more intrusive and potentially harmful data than any one could ever imagine.

I wish they were like Google.
 
Google apparently keeps a record of each and every search everyone has ever done!
They know exactly where we've all been! That's creepy!
 
The phone companies can locate you every second of your 24 hour life - through your cell phone and cell towers triangulation. Why does that not bother you?

The cable companies know exactly your TV watching habits, what music you listen to and what numbers you call.

Your ISP knows exactly what websites you have been to.....

Other search engines, like Yahoo, Bing, Altavista, whatever also can track you.

But a search for recipes, literature, quote or whatever on Google bothers you more??

That's selective paranoia.
 
Ah but Pauly, I have no cell phone, never had cable TV, and I am very careful in my use of search engines. I don't mind them knowing I am watching the little Shiba puppies or reading LOLcats!

I think what bothers me about Google is less their search engine than their world-wide filming and attempts to take over said world. I think they could tip over from being "not evil" to "evil" very easily and it really bothers me, like the Patriot Act, that no one seems to mind.......

Sometimes when you are paranoid they really are after you!
 
They know exactly where we've all been! That's creepy!


nah mate. the CREEPY piece is "what are they doing with it" !!!!!!!!! :shrug:
 
I use a lot of the current technologies, but I do feel a little of what Mar feels. With data storage getting cheaper all the time, as much information as can be collected will be collected and saved. Most of the time, for most of us, this is probably not a problem. My concern is the potential for selective use of this information to punish people who upset the status quo.
:kaffeetrinker_2: Rick
 
Senators Chuck Schumer-D, and Lindsey Graham-R are cosponsoring a bill to make biometric cards mandatory for all U. S. citizens. The rationale is to prevent undocumented, illegal aliens from being able to get jobs. Under their bill, all U. S. citizens would have to be fingerprinted and show the card when apply for employment.

Gee, wouldn't microchips implanted in our bodies be more efficient and less prone to tampering? It's for our own good, after all.
 
I wonder if the proverbial iceberg is kept in a giant freezer in the basement of the Library of Congress.
:kaffeetrinker_2: Rick
 
I used to think that the plethora of information out there imposed a form of privacy because no one could find things in buried in the overwhelming volume. Google is demonstrating that with today's software and computing power that information can be sorted and displayed in ways never dreamed of a few years ago. Something to think about, because the data being "out there" ship has sailed.
 
The sheer volume can create a needle-in-a-haystack situation for the watchers. The FBI has complained about having to search through a lot of calls to order pizzas etc. However, as you point out, software refinements continue to make the process easier. Maybe the worst potential consequence for most of us will be a bombardment of targeted ads. But maybe not.

As I said, my concern is the potential for selective use of information to punish people who upset the status quo... We all do things which could, if desired, be exaggerated through media exposure or otherwise into annoying, or reputation-destroying, career-endangering publicity. While I have no direct evidence to support it I can't help but believe that, for instance, Elliot Spitzer's behavior was known and kept in abeyance until he started actively warning about the financial shenanigans that were causing the disaster-to-come with the economy.

J. Edgar Hoover was well-known for keeping "gotcha" files on people for potential abuse in selective enforcement.

I believe that well-connected corporate interests have far too much control over the political process (as is amply demonstrated by the current inability of the process to protect some semblance of a public interest from the predatory greed of the financial, pharma, insurance, and other sectors). Especially now that the Supreme Court has ruled that corporations can spend as much as they want in the political arena, those politicians who are courageous enough to oppose special interests could be in for a very hard time. This could happen at a local level too as angry, frustrated citizens speak out against perceived harm to our interests. Although it is, of course, our right to petition for redress of grievances, the potential for misuse of personal information to besmirch someone's character might create a chilling effect against exercising this right for many who might consider it. The way things have trended, how unlikely would it really be that in the near future an attempt could be made to equate civil disobedience with terrorism. It's a matter of degree, and the political world generally doesn't "do nuance".

Maybe this is a paranoid view. Maybe not. I would just say that there's a tipping point somewhere, past which we should be wary of blindly venturing.
:kaffeetrinker_2: Rick
 
Getting back on subject....

Did you know that you can enter the following (and more) in Google search window and get an answer?


  • Financial questions: 23% of $1295, for example
  • Mathematical questions: (16081 * 113898) / 2
  • Flight info: Jetblue flight 182
  • Time and Date: What time it is in Tokyo
  • Conversions: 1/4 cup in teaspoons

I bet you didn't....
 
You’d win, Paul. I didn’t know that.

According to Google 1/4 cup = 0.015625 US gallons and at 11:00 a.m. EST in New Hampshire it is 1:30am Friday (CST) in Alice Springs, Australia.

But, something’s fishy. How come they are 30 minutes off the rest of the world? Or, … maybe it’s us?
 
Bill Henry- said:
You’d win, Paul. I didn’t know that.

According to Google 1/4 cup = 0.015625 US gallons and at 11:00 a.m. EST in New Hampshire it is 1:30am Friday (CST) in Alice Springs, Australia.

But, something’s fishy. How come they are 30 minutes off the rest of the world? Or, … maybe it’s us?
Click to expand...

There are 30 minute time zones.
 
Paul N said:
Bill:

Did you really not know there are 30 minute time zones??
Click to expand...

I knew that Newfoundland is 30 minutes off, but I didn't consider that parts of Australia would be. Newfies are, … well … Newfies. :p
 
I've never heard of 30 minute time zones. I just checked the calendar, and April 1 isn't for another 3 weeks... Here in the Eastern time zone, anyway.
:cool: Rick
 
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