Google maps 8bit quest mode. A setup for 4/1 perhaps?

http://maps.google.com/maps?q=queens,+ny&hl=en&sll=37.0625,-95.677068&sspn=40.188298,71.630859&t=8&hnear=Queens,+New+York&z=11

by loucal • 14 years ago

455 105 14 years ago

maps.google.com

loucal2• 14 years ago

Drag the hero on to the map somewhere and he will land somewhere with streetview, which gets turned into 8bit, hilarious.

mjn• 14 years ago

That's pretty great. I've wanted for a while to find a way to layer image effects onto Google Street View, to be able to move around the world in a sort of alternate processed reality. But afaik, there's no straightfoward way to add a filter like that unless you're Google. There's an image API, but the resolution is only 640x480. There's an undocumented image API with higher-res images, but you'll get banned if you make more than occasional usage of it. Perhaps it'd be possible to do it via a browser extension that renders the effects locally?

[edit: Just thought of one possible route. There's a WebGL beta for Street View; perhaps you could add effects by injecting some WebGL shader code, given appropriate local security permissions?]

So far I've been just experimenting with grabbing a few hundred images from the undocumented API and applying effects locally. This is the result of one experiment (hit [reload] at the top/right for new images): http://www.kmjn.org/projects/cyanocph/

loucal2• 14 years ago

nice! I really like that. Thanks for posting this.

jianshen• 14 years ago

This is fun for looking at street art: http://g.co/maps/ary5t

screenshot: http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7188/6886373098_84a16330a1_o.p...

clebio• 14 years ago

Nice! This reminded me of the murals in SF: http://maps.google.com/maps?q=3481+16th+Street,+San+Francisc...

sad_panda5• 14 years ago

Just figured that out. You have to disable MapsGL for that to work.

aaronsw• 14 years ago

Google offices are apparently marked with surprisingly-unpixelated propellerheads. There's also some custom art for SF landmarks.

mikeleeorg• 14 years ago

I was so hoping I could see the propellerheads in closer detail with the Street View, but alas...

DrewHintz• 14 years ago

Google is finally going to support the NES: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rznYifPHxDg

tiles• 14 years ago

Resisting every hacker temptation to look into making this a real NES cartridge.

Development: http://wiki.nesdev.com/w/index.php/Nesdev_Wiki

Modem: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Famicom_Modem

Microphone: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nintendo_Entertainment_System#H...

How long before April 1st?

withad• 14 years ago

Even though I think this is great, it still kind of annoys me that they keep calling it a NES when they're clearly using a Famicom. I suspect that's actually going to confuse a lot of people.

_delirium• 14 years ago

It looks like the video was made by Japanese, but they probably used the name "NES" because it's more familiar to English-speaking audiences who're likely to make up the majority of video views.

mgkimsal• 14 years ago

Reminds me of Ultima II. Or was that Ultima ][ ?

MrFoof• 14 years ago

Specifically it is the original Dragon Quest (Dragon Warrior in the US).

kbutler• 14 years ago

Yes: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Dragon_quest_battle_2.png

NelsonMinar• 14 years ago

It's a pretty impressive map for an April Fool's joke. Particularly like the 2d rendered buildings for landmarks like the Eiffel Tower, Sutro Tower in SF, etc. Presumably somewhat inspired by Brett Camper's 2010 project 8bitNYC. http://8bitcity.com/map?New%20York

The YouTube video is hilarious.

nilsjuenemann2• 14 years ago

Google Streetview is also available in 8 bit mode:

http://maps.google.com/maps?q=googleplex&hl=en&ll=37...

objclxt2• 14 years ago

...only in the Flash viewer though: not on WebGL (to save anyone clicking the link who's opted into the WebGL beta).

tesseract• 14 years ago

a possible word of warning: I disabled MapsGL to see it. In the past there has always been a button to get back into GL mode, but I can't find it anymore so I am now stuck in Flash.

bsimpson3• 14 years ago

I was wondering what everyone was talking about. Thanks for the tip.

Incognito mode to the rescue!

why-el• 14 years ago

This looks like an early April's fool to me.

piotrSikora• 14 years ago

Why early? It's already April 1st in eastern part of the world.

bsimpson3• 14 years ago

Everyone knows the Internet only work in California.

Az350• 14 years ago

This service is developed by GoogleJapan. So, April's fool is earlier than the US'.

sirn• 14 years ago

Try going to 0.00,0.00 and zoom in.

(spoilers warning)

This is what you get: http://i.imgur.com/JJxGn.png

There's also another one in a deeper zoom level.

discountgenius• 14 years ago

Thank you, Google, for creating a world where a spoiler warning might be necessary before a link to your mainstream product.

sad_panda5• 14 years ago

Hahaha, the Dragonlord transformation is awesome!!

jaredsohn2• 14 years ago

Direct link: http://maps.google.com/maps?hl=en&sll=0,0&t=8. Zoom out to see the alternate view.

rubergly• 14 years ago

Notice the map data for that location is copyright Square Enix.

digitallimit• 14 years ago

Madison, Wisconsin (http://g.co/maps/pnsev) has an imagined Monona Terrace as well as some kids with silly hats.

rexreed• 14 years ago

The region around MIT in Cambridge, MA shows similar detail: https://maps.google.com/maps?q=cambridge+ma&hl=en&ll...

hung• 14 years ago

I believe those denote locations of Google offices. There's also some in Mountain View.

doc• 14 years ago

There's something similar if you look for area 51 http://maps.google.com/maps?hl=en&ll=37.235983,-115.8090...

caublestone2• 14 years ago

Does anyone else see these projects, the always changing Google logo, and G+ as proof that Google just has way too much talent and not enough useful ideas?

cloudwalking• 14 years ago

I think Google likes to have fun.

steve-howard• 14 years ago

Further, if your job is somewhere that you have fun and are free to occasionally make interesting-but-useless things, you're less likely to quit.

ndcrandall• 14 years ago

What a great way to demonstrate that talent in unique ways and keep employees happy with an awesome atmosphere!

wnight• 14 years ago

No. Keeping the system from visually stagnating, and having fun with your users, is one of those useful ideas... Besides, I doubt the artists are taking resources from feature developers. If anything, they're probably sitting idle between roll-outs.

caublestone2• 14 years ago

You are right. However, successfully selling products to people isn't fun. See Apple. If some Google homies got together in their spare or 20% time (does that still exist?) and utilized the Google tools to make this, then sweet. But, if some engineers getting paid $80k+ used their work time to build this, doesn't that suggest Google has too much talent?

I like fun (and Google), but investors like profits.

jaredsohn2• 14 years ago

These projects and the changing Google logo can be thought of as marketing expenses to maintain Google's brand, which helps them continue to attract users and developers.

G+ is built for strategic reasons (and not something they're just doing because they don't know have 'enough useful ideas'.) You can debate whether G+ is the right thing for them to do, but they're building it because Google leadership thinks they should.

subpixel• 14 years ago

Funny, I met Brett of http://8bitcity.com/map this week ;)

dustmop• 14 years ago

As of an hour and a half ago, it's April 1 in Japan.

evincarofautumn• 14 years ago

Dragon Warrior! Man, I loved that game, despite its flaws. The gameplay was really slow-paced, and the random battles were kind of annoying. But it was unabashedly itself, and I guess I fell in love with the world and the good ol’ swords-and-sorcery style. It helps that the NES is just an excellent system—mine’s still in perfect working order.

jahmed• 14 years ago

Yeah the music in the video really brought me back for a second. I was just thinking about my old NES wondering where in my parents house it could be and if I could play earthbound.

LVB• 14 years ago

Monster: http://goo.gl/ER97T

nilsjuenemann2• 14 years ago

I created a tumblr to collect all the monsters!

http://map-monster.tumblr.com/

Found a monster? Leave a link into the comments.

ttttannebaum• 14 years ago

Try:

Volgograd

Pogradec

Randazzo

Paceco

Balfour, Mpumalanga, South Africa (zoom out)

Makasa, Northern, Zambia (zoom out)

Goch

Mallow, Ireland

Just found them by searching around. Not sure if there's any logic to where they're placed, besides on land.

Geee• 14 years ago

There's one at Fuji mountain in Japan.

ilikepi• 14 years ago

I came across one south of Washington, DC:

http://maps.google.com/maps?hl=en&ll=38.585747,-76.65847...

sad_panda5• 14 years ago

Reims, France

d2vid• 14 years ago

I tried dragging the street view dude onto the monster, but unfortunately no battle ensued ;(

zaidmo• 14 years ago

HaHa! Google is awesome! Other outlets are just running bizarre news stories today, but Google actually developed and released something so cool!

perone• 14 years ago

Just look on the copyright message in bottom right: SQUARE ENIX. Final fantasy.

runevault• 14 years ago

Actually Dragon Warrior not FF, which was an Enix property pre-merger.

taylorbuley• 14 years ago

I'm curious how this was found?

Vaanir• 14 years ago

There's a quest button in the top right when using Maps, as of a hour or so ago I guess.

brandonhall• 14 years ago

Matt Cutts tweeting is how I found out.

fiblye• 14 years ago

A nice little detail for Pittsburghers: http://i.imgur.com/fQR4u.png

I wonder how many cities they made landmarks for?

maukdaddy• 14 years ago

No buildings in Stockholm, but they appear to have marked their office with figures wearing propeller beanies: http://g.co/maps/hjpgu

paulsmith• 14 years ago

Here's a tumblelog of easter eggs, open for submissions: http://gmaps8biteastereggs.tumblr.com/

mieubrisse• 14 years ago

Tokyo, Japan:

http://maps.google.com/maps?q=Tokyo,+Japan&hl=en&ll=...

mojowo11• 14 years ago

San Francisco got a few little landmarks...

Sutro Tower: http://i.imgur.com/1CUY1.png

Ferry Building and (I think) the Google SF headquarters: http://i.imgur.com/VmC2D.png

Alcatraz: http://i.imgur.com/FkFf1.png

rwhitman• 14 years ago

Zoom in on London and you'll find a bunch of landmarks

Anechoic• 14 years ago

I wonder how many cities they made landmarks for?

It looks like landmarks are a feature of big cities only - no love for the Basketball Hall of Fame or Springfield Armory.

llimllib• 14 years ago

Nothing for Baltimore, as far as I could find :(

glenntzke2• 14 years ago

I was saddened by that, too. No Wire reference at least? But hey, they didn't even give Niagara Falls special treatment.

7952• 14 years ago

Seriously, more casual maps can work well in presenting information. http://sh.edushi.com/

seagreen• 14 years ago

That's gorgeous! I found more info here if anyone's interested (I can't read Chinese): http://www.popsci.com/scitech/article/2009-06/edushis-3-d-pi...

mase• 14 years ago

WOW! Incredible. I love the floating balloon advertisements. I could see that getting annoying, but a great way to get your attention

marcelfahle• 14 years ago

Haha, they're insane.. I love this. Great April fools'

brendannee2• 14 years ago

You can use these 8bit tiles in your own project, its quite easy to switch the tile layer of any google maps site: http://blog.bn.ee/2012/03/31/how-to-use-google-maps-8-bit-ti...

I updated walksy.com to use these tiles: http://walksy.com/?8bit

bsimpson3• 14 years ago

You show Nob Hill, San Francisco as a part of the Presidio:

"Nob Hill California and Mason, SF Tags: neighborhood, architecture, history, parks 34 reviews on http://www.yelp.com/biz/felicia-gelardi-skin-care-san-franci... StreetView"

That's very much the wrong neighborhood.

brendannee2• 14 years ago

This is fixed - thanks for pointing that issue out!

cdvonstinkpot• 14 years ago

Somehow I got the map to split-screen with street view, and all the street view's in 8-bit, too.

mikek• 14 years ago

Youtube announcement:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rznYifPHxDg

rburhum• 14 years ago

8bit city with map tiles have been for awhile now using Openstreetmap as the source. An example that has been arou d for years is this http://8bitcity.com/map?New%20York

solsenNet• 14 years ago

This looks... erm ... neat. A "sophomore OpenGL term project" kind of neat. Baidu on the other hand does the maps right [0], which hardly surprising given their 20 years of head start. On a more general note, this reminds me of old Microsoft's tactics. Google should really stick to the search, but instead they throw together something that mimics competitor's feature. Something that looks more featureful and which is free, but upon closer inspection is effectively a half-ass effort, because it's an entirely different domain that's not their specialty.

[0] http://map.baidu.com/?newmap=1&l=15&tn=B_DIMENSIONAL...

patrickyeon• 14 years ago

And now I'm left wondering how this comment relates to http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=3777709 from yesterday...

sad_panda5• 14 years ago

The same comment, from two different accounts. Both related to Google products. Is this the 2012 version of "Netcraft confirms that BSD is dying"?

solsenNet 32 minutes ago | link This looks... erm ... neat. A "sophomore OpenGL term project" kind of neat. Baidu on the other hand does the maps right [0], which hardly surprising given their 20 years of head start. On a more general note, this reminds me of old Microsoft's tactics. Google should really stick to the search, but instead they throw together something that mimics competitor's feature. Something that looks more featureful and which is free, but upon closer inspection is effectively a half-ass effort, because it's an entirely different domain that's not their specialty. [0] http://map.baidu.com/?newmap=1&l=15&tn=B_DIMENSIONAL....

huhtenberg 23 hours ago | link | parent | flag This looks... erm ... neat. A "sophomore OpenGL term project" kind of neat. Wolfram on the other hand does the graphs right [0], which hardly surprising given their 20 years of head start. On a more general note, this reminds me of old Microsoft's tactics. Google should really stick to the search, but instead they throw together something that mimics competitor's feature. Something that looks more featureful and which is free, but upon closer inspection is effectively a half-ass effort, because it's an entirely different domain that's not their specialty. [0] http://www.wolframalpha.com/input/?i=sqrt%28x*x%2By*y%29%2B3....

mkeblx• 14 years ago

My first instinct was to look under the hood for some sprites I could use for a map based game. No luck, all the cool building/characters seem embedded in the the actual tiles.

Is there any way Google would try to make an actual game out of this? I know there are other successful online 8-bit-ish RPGs that use the Google Maps as a base...

mehrshad• 14 years ago

Good lord, nothing's made me miss Zelda and SimCity as much as this. Kudos Google.

forgotusername• 14 years ago

Launching these changes couldn't be quick, easy, or cheap, especially when accompanied by the polished intro video, and while incredibly cute, I wonder how many here would have preferred for Code Search to continue life in exchange for not expending resources on feel-good projects like this, or e.g. the frequent doodles, the novelty of which has long since worn off.

beaumartinez• 14 years ago

True, but—a happy employee is a productive employee. If you get to build something a bit silly, a bit cheeky, a bit different every now and again—wouldn't you like your job just that little bit more?

brandon• 14 years ago

This feature actually came together very quickly and in large part due to volunteer after hours efforts.

I miss code search too, but it's not fair to compare the upkeep of a production service to small one-off art projects.

tubbo• 14 years ago

Oh god the world is SimCity Classic...

fruchtose• 14 years ago

Can anyone identify this strange object?

http://maps.google.com/maps?q=queens,+ny&hl=en&ll=39...

mbetter• 14 years ago

Looks like a druinlord.

alan_cx• 14 years ago

Damn google, I don't want to look at it, I want to play it!!!

gsivil• 14 years ago

If it is possible post links to images not to google map links because they do not work for everyone

Cieplak• 14 years ago

Discussion on reddit:

http://www.reddit.com/r/technology/comments/rmfr1/browse_goo...

NatW• 14 years ago

Try Street View! Awesome.

nkassis• 14 years ago

Cool they did the montreal Biosphere and the Habitat 67 building but no Olympic stadium :(

http://maps.google.com/maps?q=Biosph%C3%A8re,+Montreal,+QC,+...

glenntzke2• 14 years ago

There's a :P monster lurking at 35.371205,138.639039. He alludes you despite zooming in. There are some interesting images all over this area of the map.

waiwai933• 14 years ago

If you try to replicate the route from Los Angeles to New York on Google Maps 8-bit Quest mode, it's not nearly the same route as the one in the video. Curious they missed that.

jbg_• 14 years ago

It’s been April Fools Day in New Zealand for 14 hours, so I guess rather than it being setup in advance, they just launched it in time for the first country to hit 1/4.

jlees• 14 years ago

It was created by the Tokyo office, so was launched on time for them. :)

werdnanoslen• 14 years ago

Try searching for something, then specify the time range. Check the last option (changes on reload) :)

stephengillie• 14 years ago

A troll or something near Mount Rainier: http://maps.google.com/maps?q=47.04299,-122.051239&hl=en...

kalleboo2• 14 years ago

Interesting, if you look at Pyongyang (North Korea), it has a bunch of labels that don't show if you use their regular maps. They're quite detailed too, it shows "Statue 2 of 'The Newly Freed Proletariat Thanks To The Grat Leader Kim Il-Sung'", schools and such. They must have hidden map data they don't show normally that leaked into this map. http://g.co/maps/tg9jy

Google maps 8bit quest mode. A setup for 4/1 perhaps?

Related Stories