When Google Street View was first launched way back in May 2007, I was disappointed that D.C. wasn’t among the five starting cities (New York City, San Francisco, Denver, Las Vegas, and Miami) , but wasn’t too upset. This is only the tip of the iceberg, I figured, and D.C. would be added shortly.
Well, I was half right. 43 little cameras spring up on Google Maps now when you hit the “Street View” button, but not a single one even comes close to D.C. We’re coming up on the one year anniversary of Street View’s inception and, though Fairbanks, AK and Madison, WI have Street View, our nation’s capital is still Street View-less. D.C. was still a moderately important city, last time I checked; how could this be?
I shot an email over to the good folks at Google asking if/when they might be correcting this omission of theirs. The response I got, while good-natured, hardly cleared anything up. Elaine, of Google’s Global Communications & Public Affairs, first extolled the virtues of Street View (calling it “a useful and interesting tool for users everywhere”) before breaking the bad news.
We have gathered imagery in Washington DC, but we do not have any launch plans to announce at this time. The time between gathering imagery and making it available in Google Maps varies by city and is dependent on a variety of factors.
What kind of factors? Maybe Google is being slowed down by some silly red tape, courtesy of Homeland Security, the Park Service or any of the three thousand other bureaucracies which claim jurisdiction in the District?
I can’t get into many specifics, but we the imagery collection time varies by city given conditions like size of the region being covered (since we cover more than just the core downtown area), weather, etc. We also then spend time ensuring the quality and accuracy of images before posting them.
Sorry, D.C. residents, but it looks like it might be a while. While you wait, check out a few of the locations which have been added to Street View:
Spokane, WA: Both D.C. and Spokane, WA have the word “Washington” in their name, except one is home to some of the most influential people and institutions in the world and one’s claim to fame is hosting the largest 3-on-3 basketball tournament in the world.
Manchester, NH: I lived in New Hampshire for three years, and unless you have a great passion for New England foliage or winter, there’s not much to see here.
Yosemite National Park: A National Park before D.C.? But we’ve got at least two dozen of those!
Georgetown Day put up quite a fight: moon bounce, live music, free food, NBA champ Jeff Green, a rock climbing wall, and so on. In the end, though, Georgetown Nite stole the show with a concentrated soap solution, a giant blow-up rink, a mass of soaking wet drunk people, and a tiny bit of magic. Foam party, indeed.
Our favorite entries in the photo contest ran in the paper, but these are pretty great too. My favorite is Best Neon, and Best Illegal Use of Photoshop because I can easily seeing it being the cover of a self-published novel.
Washington, D.C. - Georgetown University Men’s Basketball Head Coach John Thompson III announced today that sophomore forward Vernon Macklin (Portsmouth, Va./Hargrave Military Academy) is transferring to another (as yet unspecified) school.
“We appreciate the hard work he put in at Georgetown, both on and off the floor,” Thompson said. “We wish him the best in the future.”
What a run it’s been. From touted All-American recruit to athletic freshman project to struggling sophomore, and now this. I can’t say I blame Macklin (though Barker Davis over at the Times has a different perspective). Barring a summer miracle (cue: montage of Macklin practicing day and night, in the sweltering heat and pouring rain), Macklin would probably have taken a backseat to the Doctrine and Henry Sims (nickname ideas, anyone?) next year anyway.
At the Green Apple Festival yesterday on the National Mall, fans of the Roots got American Idol runner-up/beatbox extraordinaire Blake Lewis instead. Pulitzer Prize-winning New York Times columnist Thomas Friedman got boos and jeers from the crowd before being ushered off the stage by Chevy Chase. And though everyone present got very, very wet, it’s probably fair to say that few at the environmental festival got what they came for.
After an electrical storm during jam band Umphrey’s McGee’s set put the festival on hold as the crowd took shelter in nearby museums, the environmental festival was called for good. Headlining bands the Roots and Gov’t Mule did not perform and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV), who was scheduled to speak, was nowhere to be seen.The D.C. event was one of eight across the country aimed at raising awareness about global warming and encouraging people to call their congressperson on Earth Day with concerns about climate change. Like many activist concerts, the event was a strange marriage of musicians, policy wonks, and celebrities, matching bands like O.A.R. and Mambo Sauce with speakers like actor Edward Norton, and climate scientist James Hansen.
The weather may have put a stop to the concert, but it didn’t deter the crowd from celebrating 4/20. Attendees were openly smoking marijuana, fumes drifting across the Mall, and cheered loudly when several of the musicians made references to the holiday. As Marc Roberge, the lead singer of O.A.R., put it, “It smells like California in D.C.”
Mike Stew[art] astutely pointed out that it’s probably a good thing that Chris Wright doesn’t know the fight song. More time learning the fight song = less time working on the break-away lay-up or outside shot that, along with Austin Freeman and Greg “the Doctrine” Monroe”, will be key to Georgetown’s success in upcoming years. We also learn from the video that, though Wright’s proven to be a snazzy dresser, he’s not much of a dancer.
Less than a week before Cabaret’s opening night, Shira Hecht brings us inside the Mask & Bauble sausage factory after watching weeks of rehearsal and production.
Mo’ money, mo’ problems: Juliana Brint brings us some mild controversy as GUSA works on doling out the $310,000 that we pay in Student Activity Funds.
Phil Perry locates former Hoya basketball player Keny Izzo. Izzo hasn’t given up the dream yet: he’s playing pro-ball in “The Hidden Treasure of the Yucatan Peninsula.”
We are still in need of your photos for yearbook!We especially need photos of classes, class trips, tabling in Red Square, men’s basketball, track-and-field, protests, drinking, outdoor activities, St. Patty’s Day, and diversity.Submit at images.jostens.com, Login ID 1141028, Password ydb2008.Please identify people in the caption box!
(emphasis mine)
Who knew an intangible quality like diversity could be captured by a photograph? I’m not sure exactly what the staff of Ye Domesday Booke has in mind, but this was the first thing that popped into my head.
A copy-editor must have lost their job, or at least their dignity, over this blooper. We’ve had a few mistakes like this over the years at the Voice, but then again, our circulation of 8,000 invites a little less scrutiny than the million-plus print subscribers of the Times. Luckily for the Times, the error was caught before the New York edition was printed. Still, a mistake like this has got to make people not living at the center of the universe wonder if bying a subscription is even worth it these days.
Vox Populi is the staff blog of the Georgetown Voice, Georgetown University's preeminent newsmagazine since 1969. The opinions expressed in Vox Populi are those of their authors unless specifically stated.
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