Buy This Book from Book Depository, Free Delivery World Wide

24.4.11

Google Maps Street View

Google Maps Street View is wonderful! Recently I was writing this story about a drunken man in New Orleans. I wanted to find the exact place for my blog map, but I didn't remeber even the name of the bar in question, and I had only a faint idea of the whereabouts of the hostel we stayed at that time.

So first I Googled 'hostels new orleans'. Hmmm... that Marquette House sounds remotely familiar. Let's see where it is. Carondelet Street? Equally familiar sounding. So let's take a look with Street View. Hey, that's it! There's even the spot we parked our car!

But how am I going to find the bar we were? Ok, I vaguely remember the short route we walked to the site. It's fairly easy to navigate in Street View by taking small steps at the time. It must have been on St. Charles Avenue, because the street cars run here... no, this must be the wrong direction, how about the other way... Igor's? That looks familiar... and they have laundromats, that's it! That's the place!

It was almost like walking there again ...well, not at all, but you get the idea. I also found some photos taken inside the bar, so that was definitely the same place we walked in almost ten years ago. It's one thing to cast your mind back to some far-off trip you've made ten(s of) years ago but being able to 'walk' the very same streets on your screen certainly adds to the memory.

No comments: