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[Nobility]

This is awesome. I hope they can do a world view, handles the personal privacy issues nicely.

 

[louis89]

Although it is really cool looking, I can't really see what the point of it is. Also, Baidu Maps looks to be a total rip off of Google Maps

 

[Rengoku]

This is bizzare, its blocked in Canada.

 

[Bread]

Because it's super bad ass?

 

[crazy monkey]

This is bizzare, its blocked in Canada.

no it is not. I just visited.

 

[Weenerz]

China kicks ass.

 

[bbyybb]

Pretty impressive looking.

I wonder how long it took to create it.

 

[Ark]

I'm going to spend hours looking at this now Q_Q.

 

[LunarMX]

Hey I can see my Grandparents house from here.

But honestly it doesn't seem to be as convenient as Google Map. I'm finding it hard to find specific locations like restaurants and shops. Of course this is just from first impressions and I'm gonna play around with this. Time to tell my parents their city turned into pixels.

 

[Seraphinianus]

best pixel art ever

 

[Rengoku]

no it is not. I just visited.

Interesting, it didn't work for me until I went through a US proxy.

 

[Barry Lightning]

I wonder how many people worked on this for 2 pennies an hour.

 

[jooey]

 

[Liquid_015]

This is impressive, I can see my apartment in Shanghai from the Baidu Map! Awesome, it's extremely accurate!

 

[spats]

That looks really cool.

 

[megateto]

I can't seem to make it work : once I'm in Beijing the first two options are missing. I'm talking about the ones referred by the OP as:

Once on the map, you will have some view options in the upper right hand corner. I have highlighted the one you'll want (2nd from left)

 

[sixteen-bit]

Really cool looking.

 

[victreeb3l]

fucking amazing.

..but why? seems like a major waste of resources if the only point is to make it look cool.

still, i hope they do this for the entire world, especially NYC

 

[EmSeta]

Doesn't work for me either.

 

[Vilam]

Wow, seriously awesome. I want a Sim City that looks like that now.

 

[Snake]

1. Erase all the roads and put in mass transit.
2. Replace the coal plants with nuclear plants.
3. Punch Dr. Wright in the face.

All of China's problems fixed.

 

[Windam]

I've got to say, this is pretty cool. Wonder how long it must have taken.

 

[markot]

I dont see the coolness here >_< its utterly pointless....

 

[GONz]

Looks cool, but it looks like it's fairly outdated. Examples in Beijing: Sanlitun Village is still in construction while it opened like 2 years ago, the old buildings on the other side of Gongti Beilu are still there while now there is Sanlitun SOHO, there are still some constructions in Chaowai (done a few years ago) etc.

 

[Messypandas]

its beautiful. but i really admire art like this

 

[EricHasNoPull]

I dont see the coolness here >_< its utterly pointless....

I am going to agree also, I mean A for effort and all, but really...it just seems so many man hours, energy and money wasted on something that doesn't really seem to be nothign more than "Oooh neat".

There must be a good reason within the Chinese government law for this style of map to exist...maybe companies in China are not allowed to have websites that can show satellite imagery of Chinese cities? I donno!?!

Also, I thought the entire allure' of Google maps was how you felt like a (creeper) bird flying over your local city and pointing out your friend's houses and the cars and junk they leave around their house... for example I still get a kick out of looking at my old car (that I don't own anymore) parked in my drive way on Google Maps, in Satellite view.

And let's not even get into the fun times we can have with "Google street view" but that's totally a different thing than this.

 

[crazy monkey]

I am going to agree also, I mean A for effort and all, but really...it just seems so many man hours, energy and money wasted on something that doesn't really seem to be nothign more than "Oooh neat".

There must be a good reason within the Chinese government law for this style of map to exist...maybe company's in China are not allowed to have websites that can show satellite imagery of Chinese cities? I donno!?!

Also, I thought the entire allure' of Google maps was how you felt like a (creeper) bird flying over your local city and pointing out your friend's houses and the cars and junk they leave around their house... for example I still get a kick out of looking at my old car (that I don't own anymore) parked in my drive way on Google Maps, in Satellite view.

And let's not even get into the fun times we can have with "Google street view" but that's totally a different thing than this.

this way they can protect privacy. It looks much more cleaner than aerial view of google map. If it is integrated in gps this will be hella cool.

 

[Tenks]

I have to wonder if China forced them to do this to limit the flow of information to the public. I mean yeah its cool and all the have a sim-city representation of their cities but did they really do this to make sure the people living in the cities are unaware how much of a shithole surrounds them?

 

[Jme]

If I had to guess as to their reasoning for this project it would be one of the following (or a combination thereof):

1. Clean Up - Art is controlled, satellite is not, so things like yard garbage, graffiti, smog, trash, etc. is not present. This makes their cities look better and they are all about self-image.

2. Privacy laws - No people, no problem.

3. Satellite Image Rights - Why credit rival companies for their satellite photos when you can trace over them with pixels! I bet labor costs less than satellites...

4. Showing Off - Because it's super bad ass.

 

[EricHasNoPull]

this way they can protect privacy. It looks much more cleaner than aerial view of google map. If it is integrated in gps this will be hella cool.

Yeah I figured as such.



...I like your GPS idea if these are truly 3D, but I still find it a little impractical.

When you are driving and using GPS in the Car, you just want to know what road you are on and what road is coming up... As long as it was a little more simplified, maybe.
Looking at detailed pixel buildings on a small screen isn't something you would want to be doing while driving at certain speeds and using a GPS for directions.

 

[trinest]

I opened this thread ages ago and didn't reply.

But this is so awesome, shame it doesn't look more "pixelated", but it still has a great style. Would love if Google did something like this.

 

[Drkirby]

Derp

I would love someone to show a picture of that spot looking the same in real life.

Also, I thought the entire allure' of Google maps was how you felt like a (creeper) bird flying over your local city and pointing out your friend's houses and the cars and junk they leave around their house... for example I still get a kick out of looking at my old car (that I don't own anymore) parked in my drive way on Google Maps, in Satellite view.

What is better, there is a shot of me walking home from Highschool Street View, just as I was getting home.

 

[Yo Gotti]

I wonder how many people worked on this for 2 pennies an hour.

Probably none, considering China has more cash than the US these days.

This is really awesome though, so many potential uses.

Is the API open like Google? If so there's so much that could be done...

 

[thecheese]

Absolutely incredible work.

 

[LQX]

Perfect communist idea to cover up imperfections.

 

[Juanadams]

Damn this is impressive, but I hate to credit china with anything. Lol

 

[Kaako]

I said damn. You win this round, China.

 

[whiteknight]

Looks like Sim City, cool but pretty pointless.

this (the sim city part) the next thing i thought was where is the disaster button

 

[TehOh]

Oh wow, that's amazing.

I just found the apartment building I lived in while I was in Beijing. Crazy to see all of these neighborhoods that I recognize in pixel-art form.

 

[Lion Heart]

Someone should do these in UE3.0

 

[tino]

I can find the place where I lived for the my 14 years. The actual house is not in the picture though. It's a 2 floor house. It's one of the very few small residential houses that's not replaced in that area by buildings due to its pre-war historic value.

 

[dudeworld]

habbo hotel? more like habbo city

 

[user_nat]

this (the sim city part) the next thing i thought was where is the disaster button

Would be amazing.

 

[Warm Machine]

It is all prerendered so they can soon put the camera wherever they need it to be.

 

[Trurl]

China's found a way of showing their urban areas to be the cleanest cities in the universe.

Perfect communist idea to cover up imperfections.

You said it better than me. Even the worst slums could look like paradise in this style.

 

[xbhaskarx]

Is there any easy way to compare areas to how the really look in a satellite image?

I found this big stadium in Beijing:

That's not the Bird's Nest Stadium from the Summer Olympics, is it? If so it looks nothing like it...

 

[Kuro Madoushi]

Sigh...can't win with some people.
China? Digital representation = cover up made by slave labour
Google? Real = Privacy invasion and used to stalk.

I actually like the representations and, if anything, it'll give you more freedom and points of view since it's a model and not a static picture you only have a few angles of.

I wonder if some other company will do the same over here? I love google maps, but some images are blocked by cars or people and I often can't get the right zoom or angle I'm looking for.

I also wonder if they could use it to model effects of disasters too. Bah, I need another Sum City...

 

[Utako]

Looks nice, but there are a few problems I need to point out to the "OMG 'China' pwns Google" crowd:

• With very few labels, you would never use this to get around.
• Why would you want to use this instead of Satellite View, which shows you the actual area in question, something that I presume would be helpful if you were really travelling?
• Earth View (shown below by another poster) does a better job of combining spacial sense with realism

(full disclosure: I consider Baidu a pale KIRF of Google)

 

[Utako]

Is there any easy way to compare areas to how the really look in a satellite image?

I found this big stadium in Beijing:

That's not the Bird's Nest Stadium from the Summer Olympics, is it? If so it looks nothing like it...

That's the Worker's Stadium... right across the street is a ridiculous sex shop.

 

[Zhengi]

That looks pretty awesome. Someone needs to steal that idea and integrate it into one of the map sites out there.