Salon.com > google maps

Google Earth as art

Thu, 02 May 2013 18:56:00 +0000

OAK PARK, Illinois — You’re driving to a suburb that you don’t know well, and you whip out your iPhone to quickly punch an address into Google Maps. In this case, that address is 704 Highland Avenue, home of Sabina Ott and John Paulett, who run Terrain Exhibitions, a once-a-month-ish, home-turned-cozy gallery experience. Every artist who shows work here must wrap it around the concept of the artist-writer couple’s home.

Jeroen Nelemans, Higher Definition – QR Code (all photos by the writer unless otherwise noted)

Lithuanian tax authorities use Google Maps to track down dodgers

Wed, 10 Apr 2013 17:59:00 +0000

VILNIUS, Lithuania (AP) -- As soon as Google Maps Street View was rolled out in Lithuania earlier this year, tax authorities were ready.

Sitting in the comfort of their own offices, inspectors used the free Internet program for a virtual cruise around the streets of some of the Baltic country's big cities, uncovering dozens of alleged tax violations involving housing construction and property sales.

They identified 100 homeowners and 30 construction companies as suspected tax dodgers thanks to Street View, finding homes where they shouldn't be and other suspicious activity, Darius Buta, spokesman for the State Tax Inspectorate, said Wednesday.

"Our inspectors track these buildings on the Internet, and if a violation seems obvious, they visit the sites. This saves lots of time and resources," Buta said.

Lithuanian officials said they were unaware of any other country where revenue collectors had used Google's Street View, saying they didn't draw on anyone else's experience. Still, tax authorities across the world are turning to high-resolution maps, online databases, and social media in a bid to catch out cheats.

Google invades the iPhone

Fri, 04 Jan 2013 18:43:00 +0000

Like many thousands of other iPhone users, I waited until the release of the new Google Maps app before upgrading my operating system to iOS6. This is how we express our independence today -- declining to upgrade!

But then I diddled around, distracted by the holidays. I didn't actually install Google Maps until I was reminded to by a Business Insider article elucidating Google's "worm strategy" of "attacking Apple from the inside out." Google's apps for the iPhone are so good that they are increasingly preferable to Apple's own apps for its own hardware.

I went whole hog. I installed Google Maps, Google Chrome, YouTube and Google's new Gmail app. I even threw in Google+ for good measure, though I have yet to make much use of Google's attempt to dislodge Facebook. I exiled Apple Maps, Safari, and Apple's Mail app to a folder labeled "Seething." (My own little joke, because Apple execs were reportedly "seething" at the rapturous response the world showered on the new Google Maps app.)