You can debate the merits of one online map interface to other all day but the truth remains - any mapping tool that includes a detailed visual reminder of September 11th deserves flack from me. What product management group sanctions something to go to public release with the actual World Trade Center in clear and detailed view?? I mean really! How difficult is it to image-degrade something or blur it out? Trust me Microsoft - people would understand. Not only does it date your satellite images but it also serves as a pretty grim reminder of one of the worst events in your country's history.
Way to get that product out the door Microsoft.. Good on Google for doing it right.
[via]
24 comments:
Try to take off your fanboy hat for a second. They used old satellite photos. That's not bad taste. Google maps Hiroshima, and a hundred other places where just as many people died. And they should, because that's reality. You're demanding MS distort reality so you can avoid thinking about it. That's just silly.
I so agree with you. Rubbing people's face in such a tragedy by including it on their map is so uncooth. They should really blur it out. And those concentration camps in Germany and Poland. What do they mean by NOT blurring those. What lack of tack on their part. At least they don't show the details of Somalia and Rwanda. I guess if we're going to be fair and black out things that represent terrible moments in our history though we should black out Pearl Harbor, the Murrow Federal building, most civil war battlegrounds, and most Indian sites. I guess it is debatable whether Viet Nam and Iraq should be blocked out. California for sure, those damned people are some embarrasing to us real Americans.
I mean, it isn't as though Google Map was just a non-political representation of the world or anything. Everyone knows that it is standard practice to obscure anything on a map that makes anyone uncomfortable.
uhu! let's block out all things that have had a negative impact on us....that is a very ignorant thing to do. Let's pretend that WTC never happened, let's pretend we were never invaded by the brits in 1812, hell let's pretend we never went to war with eachother (civil war). all I'm saying is that it happened and reminding ourselves that it happened will better prepare us to prevent those things from happening again...we learn from history because we remember it not by pretending it never happened.
I agree with the Scott Reynen, to an extent. Should we remove the towers from any movie, map, or picture, too?
The argument against MS is that they've had four years to fix it.
It's not about blocking, or censoring, or pretending it never happen. It's about provide decent content that is nearly 4 years old.
Hi again,
Microsoft has used old photos. It's apparent by Google's imagery that newer photos *are* available. Why didn't Microsoft use them? I guess I'm also just making an assumption as a Canadian watching the US media completely omitting these structures from any current media that it might be taboo for something so high profile to show these buildings? Maybe I'm way off base? Take my initial post as compassion for anyone living in the U.S. that you might not want to see those buildings? Especially people that are close to the situation which is still pretty fresh in the minds of people. To my original point, there are satellite cameras that have taken newer images, so why aren't they online? When it all boils down, that's what makes Google Maps better than Virtual Earth.
Okay, so I'll just stick to posting about cool Google Maps stuff. :)
Mike.
I don't think they should remove them because it is in bad taste to have them on the map. I think that they should remove them because they no longer exist. The maps should be current and up to date and any map that includes the twin towers is not current or up to date
Ok, you love google maps. I do too, but please don't insult my intelligence with this stupid shit. Microsoft published images of the whole world. You want them to go through and censor every spot that has something bad associated with it. How about the houses in Iraq that have since been destroyed (along with the families inside them) by US bombers. Is it ok to show them? Get off your high horse.
Ok, you love google maps. I do too, but please don't insult my intelligence with this stupid shit. Microsoft published images of the whole world. You want them to go through and censor every spot that has something bad associated with it. How about the houses in Iraq that have since been destroyed (along with the families inside them) by US bombers. Is it ok to show them? Get off your high horse.
"...serves as a pretty grim reminder of one of the worst events in your country's history."
Grim reminder? So we should just forget everything bad that ever happened? It would be bad taste if they had posted a satellite photo of the actual tragedy occurring (smoke coming out of the buildings, etc.). But how is it bad taste to remind people that they once existed?
Yes, the photo is out of date, and that is a tiny bit tacky. But considering the title of this post is "MSN Virtual Earth shows twin towers - bad taste", the author is obviously not taking issue with the timeliness of it.
Just to clarify, the orthophotography used in Virtual Earth appears to be USGS DOQQ imagery, meaning it was shot from aircraft. It's not satellite imagery like the Digital Globe imagery used in Google Earth.
Uhh, not to go off topic here, but:
"let's pretend we were never invaded by the brits in 1812"
With all this revisionist history commentary going on, I thought I'd throw in my $0.02.
The Brits didn't invade the U.S. in 1812 (however, they were seizing sailors for their war against France). In response, the U.S. tried to make a land grab of Canada. What are they teaching you in high school?
From MSN Encarta:
"President Madison [by declaring war on Britain] also wanted to prevent Britain from forming alliances with Native Americans on the American frontier. His decision was influenced by Americans in the West and South, who hoped to expand the United States by seizing control of both Canada and Florida."
(http://encarta.msn.com/encyclopedia_761571913/War_of_1812.html)
Is this a joke? Surely you aren't really offended by this are you?
The people that get "offended" wouldn't do so if they hadn't heard that their neighbour or favourite TV show host wasn't already. You are making a deal out of something that is clearly unimportant.
What a ridiculous thing to get up in arms about. Get a grip, Morpeth.
I like seeing the twin towers... it reminds me of how wonderful it looked. What is wrong with that.
listen, I live in a country where every bus gets blown to shreds. I''m not going to ask them to replace all such shaped items with something else.
I understand it can hurt... people appear to latch on to it. But we shouldn't run away from it, we should accept that two long virtical square shapes no matter what they are they will remind us, and then grow up.
comments by anonymous and you just remind me to the lawsuite against starbucks for having an advert with two cups for some summer dring standing next to them with two birds flying towords them. seriously.
I think what it really boils down to is that people just like to get up in arms about anything they think other people will agree with them on. I think this something we all do in some way without knowing it. but the whole "blot out the twin tower" references from any public reference (movie, site, etc) is starting to just get on my nerves like the jerk that has to correct every grammer and spelling mistake.
this is my last comment but what is really funny here is that if MSN or Google were to, oh, lets say blot out another reminder in history like: every concentration camp... if they blotted them out then we'd be upset they did, labeling a bunch of developers nazi's along the way.
I would like to see a map of all the places that were blown up by the terrorist Islamsist. How about a wish list of places they would like to blow up. Oh, and don't show any airplane pictures. Even the ones that were hijacked and the passengers tortured for days. Don't show pictures of these same criminals throwing old an old man in a wheel chair off an ship either.
who the hell makes a blog about maps? just stop. stop it! that's gay.
Take a look at this image I captured in a screen shot of the second tower falling.
There is no image manipulation by me and if you follow the link to the google video and play it through you can see the image yourself.
http://www.perigordvacance.com/2006/11/did_god_watch_o.html#more
Regards
Phil
Really, that's one of the dumbest blog on the internet.
Kill yourself before your stupidity does it!
I don’t know I would kind of like to see what the trade centers looked like before they fell from the planted bombs (not jet fuel). 9/11 is the biggest lie ever told.
the above comment is from a moron I don't care how old it is. How do you fake live television idiot
kids of all ages should know about it
Post a Comment