First Google Maps Hack Takedown 325
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! (Score:3, Informative)
http://www.housingmaps.com/ [housingmaps.com]
Go Google! (Score:5, Informative)
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 (Score:5, Informative)
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 (Score:4, Informative)
No, Google is good at a lot of things, but right now, maps is NOT one of those things.
Re:Tough call (Score:5, Informative)
Re:Getting Google Takedowns with Google... (Score:3, Informative)
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 (Score:2, Informative)
The information is utterly incorrect and extremely ambiguous.
Take note, fellow UK
Re:Google Maps are awfully distorted anyway (Score:3, Informative)
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 (Score:3, Informative)
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 (Score:5, Informative)
1. A post to the official Google blog: http://google-code-featured.blogspot.com/2005/04/
"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_
"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, (Score:5, Informative)
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 (Score:3, Informative)
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: (Score:4, Informative)
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... (Score:2, Informative)
This applies solely to trademarks, not to any other form of IP.
A more open content provider: USGS (links++) (Score:5, Informative)
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 (Score:2, Informative)
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? (Score:4, Informative)
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 (Score:3, Informative)
http://slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=152099&cid=12
Anm
Re:Google Maps are awfully distorted anyway (Score:1, Informative)
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! (Score:2, Informative)
Re:Noooooooooo! (Score:1, Informative)
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 (Score:1, Informative)
Re:A more open content provider: USGS (links++) (Score:4, Informative)
Re:Noooooooooo! (Score:3, Informative)
Re:Go Google! (Score:1, Informative)
NASA World Wind (Score:4, Informative)
Re:Getting Google Takedowns with Google... (Score:4, Informative)
http://mars.walagata.com/w/gmerge/gMerge-win32.zi
Re:Google Sightseeing? (Score:3, Informative)
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.