My Google Map Blog

Google Maps Street View just added a couple of more areas from Israel. Last year the first images from Israel was released. Now we can see the following new areas according to Google:

“You can now virtually tour the picturesque city of Safed in the North, the coral reef in Eilat in the South, visit the lowest point on earth at the Dead Sea, and wander around the narrow passageways of the old city of Acre.

Visit Tiberias, one of Judaism’s four holy cities; the Sea of Galilee where, according to the Gospels, Jesus walked on water; and stop off at Capernaum, the ancient fishing village believed to be the home of St. Peter, or the ancient battle site of Tel Meggido, better known as Armageddon.”

Let’s take a look at some of those areas right now.

Coral reef in Eilat.

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Capernaum, the Sea of Galilee.

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Have you found something else of interest from Israel? Let us know!

Google has rolled out a rather substantial Street View update this morning, covering hundreds of towns in Israel and updating various other cities across the world.

Some of the highlights include the Sea of Galilee, the Western Wall and the Bet She'an National Park. GEB reader 'Munden' also spotted fresh imagery in parts of Maryland and Virginia in the United States, and there's likely other areas out there as well.

Remember that you can access all of this great Street View imagery from directly within Google Earth. Here's a video that shows some tips and tricks on how to do that:

For more about this update you can read this post on the Google Lat Long Blog or see a bit more coverage over on Google Maps Mania.

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What’s going on inside this french sport store named Krakatoa?

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same girl:

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As you may remember we posted an image of a donkey lying on the road in Botswana recently (December 1st). It looked like the donkey had been hit by the google Street View car. But we concluded that google was not guilty.

This incident caught the medias attention over the last 24 hours where some in the media were not convinced by google denying it had hit the donkey. The donkey images and StreetViewFun.com has been mentioned in news stories around the world, for instance in one of the largest newspapers in Germany, Der Spiegel.

Google today also released even more convincing images to prove they did not hit the donkey. From these images it is clear that the donkey is taking a dust bath in the road. It then moves away when google comes close. In Botswana cars drive on the left side of the road.

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Venatu is a new online game that combines clues and internet research with real-world legwork. They offer substantial rewards if you are able to find "The Artifact" for each round, which is always found somewhere in the continental United States (at least for now).

While Google Earth isn't directly used in gameplay, they recommend that users take advantage of the tools available in GE to help track down the artifacts. I can see the value in that, as at times you'll need to do things like "draw a 9 mile circle around every Taco Bell in Georgia" or similar tasks that would be made much easier with the tools available inside of Google Earth.

The game has only been going for a few weeks, but they've already attracted nearly 900 people to their Facebook Group and it seems to be picking up steam. I worry that the expansive nature of the game may be a turn-off to some (the odds of the prize being within a reasonable drive of your home are quite low), but some online teamwork could make it quite fun. In fact, they recommend that very thing on their Teams page.

It'll be interesting to see how the game develops, but it's certainly an interesting idea. Have any of you tried it yet?

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