First Google Maps Hack Takedown

An anonymous reader writes "Despite "users accelerating innovation" with Google Maps the 'hacks' are not immune from Google's legal team, who have taken down "Google Wallpapers for violating the terms of agreement. From a quick skim through the terms it would seem that most sites using the Google Maps data are in violation. Are Chicago Crime and Google Sightseeing next to go?" It may be a shame to shut down Google Maps offshoots, but that has to be the nicest take-down note I've ever seen; it's polite, friendly and reasonable. Update: 06/08 21:22 GMT by T : Below, a few more of the current uses for Google Maps.

An anonymous reader submits "The AP is running a story about the multiple uses for Google Maps. Among the uses, Tracking sexual predators in Florida, Guiding travelers to the cheapest gas nationwide, Pinpointing $1,500 studio apartments for rent in Manhattan, and Finding crime in Chicago. It'll be interesting to see if Google allows these sites to remain online or not."

Noooooooooo!

[professorhojo]

i hope my favorite mashup, google housing, that uses the craigslist rental pages won't get taken down!!

http://www.housingmaps.com/ [housingmaps.com]

Go Google!

[oldosadmin]

I must say... they really are, "not being evil".

I've recieved a DMCA takedown notice before. Most aren't pretty. Personally, I never understood why most DMCA takedown notices were taken directly to ISP level, without even a word to the webmaster.

In this case, Google sent a nice letter, requesting they take it down, and even explaining why. This is far superious to any other company takedown letter I've ever seen.

Google Maps are awfully distorted anyway

[product byproduct]

Google Maps uses a fixed longitude/latitude distance ratio of ~0.772, while the true ratio depends on latitude (the ratio should be cos(latitude)). So Google Map is optimized for 39.5 of latitude (N or S), and the maps are increasingly distorted as you go toward the poles or the equator.

For example, Anchorage is stretched horizontally by a factor of 1.60 [google.com] (yup those should be right angles).

MapQuest is similarly distorted, but Yahoo Maps is not.

Google maps are inaccurate.....still like MapQuest

[compmanio36]

I used Google maps once, and I got SO lost in downtown Seattle. Their service is nice and full of features, but I prefer simple accuracy over fancy graphics anyday, especially when it means getting lost in the maze of one-way streets and idiot drivers that is downtown of any major city.

No, Google is good at a lot of things, but right now, maps is NOT one of those things.

Re:Tough call

[xiando]

Making such a site would not be a problem if you simply ask Google for the proper permissions. Who knows, if you are lucky then you might get a deal. And if you don't, at least you have tried, all they can do is say No. IP and Copyright does not need to be a problem if you are willing to talk and explain your intentions. Takedown notices generally come when you violate Copyright without even trying to get a permission deal.

Re:Getting Google Takedowns with Google...

[Mercano]

Or, Google cache of the source code:

http://64.233.167.104/search?q=cache:fWrAVd4XgzUJ: gmerge.2ni.net/gmerge.py [64.233.167.104]

Google maps for the UK is shite

[Dominic Burns]

On two occasions in the last few weeks I've tried to use the point-to-point directions based on post codes.

The information is utterly incorrect and extremely ambiguous.

Take note, fellow UK /.ers, it's an alpha release for us.

Re:Google Maps are awfully distorted anyway

[mapmaker]

All maps are distorted. The earth is round(ish) and maps are flat, and you can not represent a curved surface using a flat surface without distorting it. For a demonstration of this concept, try flattening an orange peel without squishing/stretching it.

however, different map projections can minimize distortion at different locations. What Google could (and maybe should) do is dynamically change the map projection used depending on the location currently being viewed to minimize distortion at that location.

If any Google HR reps are watching, I'd be glad to help with this. Make me an offer! :)

Re:Google Maps are awfully distorted anyway

[slim]

Not sure you are correct. If you zoom out two levels, you see blocks and blocks of perfectly right angle rectangular city blocks.

This is because those blocks are oriented perpendicular to the compass points, so stretching the map East-West doesn't affect the angles.

I don't see it as a big deal: the only perfect map projection is a globe, and my monitor's flat.

Re:Tough call

[holovaty]

Here are two pieces of evidence that Google does *not* disapprove of Google Maps hacks:

1. A post to the official Google blog: http://google-code-featured.blogspot.com/2005/04/m apscraigslist-mashup.html [blogspot.com]

"While we have no official API for Maps yet, work like this really is amazing and deserves recognition."

2. http://radar.oreilly.com/archives/2005/05/google_m aps_hac.html [oreilly.com]

"They responded that they had every intention to not shut them down as long as their licenses permit it, and one of the engineers insinuated that they might be working on a Google Maps API or a similar way to build on top of Maps (he actually said, "to make them not hacks," by which I think he meant not unauthorized)."

Disclaimer: I'm the guy that did chicagocrime.org, so I'm biased in favor of openness.

Re:That is friendly,

[russiste]

(I'm the Greg mentioned on the page)

Actually, we were expecting to go to Where 2.0 before the shutdown - the part about the conference on the page (as it was prior to the slashdotting) was not from the Google spokesperson.

Re:Google maps are inaccurate.....still like MapQu

[rpresser]

The real problem with both Google Maps and MapQuest is the underlying data. Both get their street data (at least in large part) from the same company: TeleAtlas.

This is the company that still hasn't picked up on the fact that many roads near here were renumbered four years ago to meet 911 law requirements. My company's official postal address is 2075 High Hill Rd., but TeleAtlas still thinks the only valid block number for this road is 200-299.

This is what I get:

[ImaLamer]

The Google Maps team recently noticed your Google Maps tile "stitcher"
to see developers interested in our products and we commend you on the
service. That said, we would appreciate it if you voluntarily remove
your service and stop using Google Maps on your web site. The service
violates the Maps Terms of Service available at
http://www.google.com/help/terms_local.html [google.com], and jeopardizes our
ability to make Google Maps available to the public because it
encourages non-personal use of Google Maps.

If you have any questions or concerns, or if we have contacted the
wrong people, please feel free to contact me directly. Otherwise,
amueltc please let us know as soon as possible when the service has been
removed.

Thanks,

Bret Taylor
Product Manager, Google Maps

Re:If you must be evil...

[Anonymous Coward]

Unfortunately, our legal system says that if you don't defend your IP, then you lose it,

This applies solely to trademarks, not to any other form of IP.

A more open content provider: USGS (links++)

[expro]

It is ludicrous to claim that Google invested that much in the original content, since everyone just gets it from US Geological Survey.

So, go to the National Atlas [nationalatlas.gov] and download and use to your heart's content. If that is not good enough, then go download all the data you can imagine [nationalatlas.gov]. Still not enough, you can access all the layers via web services that comply with specifications published by the Open Geospatial Consortium [opengeospatial.org] at run time from your own web pages.

Now, write your congressmen and tell them how you appreciate that they made all this available to you, the citizen, for free, instead of spending all that tax money only to add a fee that makes it prohibitive for all but corporations who can be gatekeepers to keep you out. And hope that this doesn't become another casulty of Iraq budgets.

While you are at it, start a USGS support mailing list and an open source project to keep this sort of alive.

Re:Google Maps are awfully distorted anyway

[pi42]

They do already have the technology for this -- has anybody used Keyhole (now Google Earth)?

Google Maps and Keyhole share the same sattelite imagery, I believe, the difference being that Keyhole is a separate 3D-accelerated application. Keyhole renders even the smallest patch of land as being part of the curved sphere that is the Earth. Pretty wild.

Re:Does anyone have a mirror?

[AyeRoxor!]

Yes. Google does, in fact.

The cache for the page, Linked here [64.233.161.104], has a link to the executable. The link still works. Get it while it's hot.

In fact, I think every person that makes a google utility should make an executable version for this very reason. It would save you bandwidth, it would save me loading time. Release it GPL and someone can make a multi-utility. Sounds great. Get to it, programmers!

Re:Google Maps are awfully distorted anyway

[Anm]

Actually... you are the failure for neither understanding the nature of the problem nor reading the reply posts that explain it:
http://slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=152099&cid=127 62147 [slashdot.org]

Anm

Re:Google Maps are awfully distorted anyway

[Anonymous Coward]

If you stretch HORIZONTALLY an axis-aligned rectangle, then of course it still looks like a rectangle.

You have to scout the Anchorage area for city blocks that are not axis-aligned to prove anything, just like the original poster did.

What kind of IQ do you have?

Re:Go Google!

[Snaller]

Yeah like to pirate bay while you still can - the swedish goverment passed a new law making what they do illegal from July first ;)

Re:Noooooooooo!

[glitch23]

1. The satellite/air imagery is probably not owned by Google - they must have licensed it from AirphotoUSA or whoever else is the supplier.

The map data Google uses is from NAVTEQ (Yahoo maps fame) and Tele Atlas. I recently was on a project that used Tele Atlas data and I can say that the maps are not cheap (but their tech support is very helpful and went out of their way to help us but that may have been due to the high priority of the gov't project we were working on). Approximately $100k was spent and we only had maps for North America. We also did not yet invest in any satellite images either which I'm sure costs a lot (maybe even more). Considering Google paid a lot of money for their map data they aren't going to let some ma and pop website use their data. By the way, DigitalGlobe supplies Google with the satellite photos and if you goto digitalglobe.com you will see they have some great products available.

Re:Google Maps are awfully distorted anyway

[Anonymous Coward]

It looks like a phased antenna array. The darker parts that look like a fence are actually shadows. It's located on the grounds of the Elmendorf Air Force Base [airnav.com]. Perhaps it is the High Altitude Monitoring Station (HLMS) [alaska.edu]?

Re:A more open content provider: USGS (links++)

[chrisd]

While we do get some data from government sources, there are a lot of images there that come from private companies who pay to have pilots takes pictures from cameras mounted on planes.

Re:Noooooooooo!

[cft_128]

IIRC they were leaving the watermarks on the images.

Re:Go Google!

[Anonymous Coward]

No, thats not correct. The law will only make downloading copyrighted works illegal. Hosting copyrighted files is illegal in Sweden now, but since thepiratebay.org is just hosting torrent-files they are not breaking any laws, and the new law won't affect them. Hosting torrent-files will still be allowed.

NASA World Wind

[fourtyfive]

http://worldwind.arc.nasa.gov/ [nasa.gov] I just wanted to let people know that the latest CVS of NASA World wind has a plugin engine that allows people to do the same thing (Their is even a plugin already made to do it!)

Re:Getting Google Takedowns with Google...

[kngthdn]

Okay, here's a mirror, but it only has 2000MB of bandwidth. It could also get taken down, but I doubt it, considering that the file is GPL'd.

http://mars.walagata.com/w/gmerge/gMerge-win32.zip [walagata.com]

Re:Google Sightseeing?

[nunchux]

No. In fact, anyone can go and take a picture of anything in public.

Now, if it was taking pictures of *inside* your house, you might have an issue. ;)

I was making a bad joke about the roof, of course, but I do want to point out that photography in public isn't a copyright issue, it's more of a nebulous "do you have the right to use my image?" issue that isn't completely defined in the law.

It's not quite as simple as "you can photograph anyone or anything in public"... Using anyone's image (or an image of their business or property, outside or in) for commercial purpose without permission leaves you open for a civil suit. That goes for everything from advertising to hollywood movies to art gallery exhibition to porn on the web. Journalism isn't even excluded, though it would be difficult to win a case against a news outlet. But even photojournalists try to get personal and location releases when they can.

You're inviting trouble, for example, to use a photo of a woman subathing or the exterior of a business without the subject's written consent. It's not techincally illegal-- but you're also not covered by a law that says you CAN do it. Not unless the subject is a celebrity or politician.

Also, there are actually few areas that are truly "in public." A strip mall or shopping mall, for example, belongs to someone-- and that includes everything, even the parking lot. A city street is public, but you don't have the explicit freedom to use a picture of a business' storefront.