Now that the rigorous judging for HubPages Marks the Spot is over, we had the time to actually chat with our esteemed Judges James & Alex Turnbull from Google Sightseeing – a blog all about discovering the world via Google Maps. Enjoy our exchange below, where the pair reveal some of their coolest Google Maps discoveries, as well as some thoughts on the contest and Map Capsule 😀
HubPages: What inspired you to start Google Sightseeing?
Google Sightseeing: We were fascinated with the satellite imagery on Google Maps when it was launched in 2005, and we found so many interesting places in the first few hours of browsing that we thought we’d share them. At the time, we had no idea that there would be enough sights to keep us going for the next 5 years! The world it seems, is a much bigger place than we previously thought.
What are some of the coolest sights you’ve shared on the blog?
With over 1,800 posts on the site it’s really hard to choose, however some memorable ones include the 60-metre pink rabbit on a hillside in Italy, the world’s tallest unoccupied building in North Korea, a mysterious abandoned pod city in Taiwan, and the world’s largest graffiti.
How do you think Google Maps has changed the way we live our day-to-day lives?
Google Maps has changed our lives immeasurably – there’s nowhere you can’t look up before you go, no reason to get lost, and nowhere that’s out of reach, at least virtually. Cartography is at the forefront of technology today, and that’s due in part to Google Maps.
What did you enjoy most about the hubs you read for HubPages Marks the Spot?
We’re surprised every single day about the things people find using Google maps, Earth and Street View, and it’s easy to forget how much local and personal knowledge Google’s services don’t provide! All of the hubs gave us a great insight into places that we could never have found out about otherwise.
What kind of location-based hubs (using the new HubPages Map Capsule, which allows hubbers to embed Google Maps into their hubs) would you most like to see?
Personally we’d like to see hubs featuring things you can appreciate without having to visit the location in person – but that’s just us!
What is the coolest (be it useful, silly, creative, or just plain interesting) potential use of the Map Capsule you can think of?
It would be great if the map capsule could expand eventually to provide info directly on the map – clicking markers to reveal content directly related to that thing. An annotated guide like that of an area would be really interesting when filled up with your users’ insights.
If you could immediately teleport to any of the locations or areas that you judged in the contest, which would it be?
We think that would have to be Old Town Temecula! What an amazing place, and a million miles in every way from where we are now.
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Thanks, Alex & James!
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