Without Google Maps and Street View, I’d be utterly lost in New York, or anywhere in the world for that matter. And for all its usefulness, we’ve always had a few good laughs too. Today’s update to three distinct areas of New York might make you laugh, cry or sit back in astonishment.
Street View has now overtaken Central Park, allows those who can’t visit the 9/11 memorial to read the victim’s names from anywhere in the world and see how the neighborhoods impacted by Hurricane Sandy are doing months later.
Now every little nook and cranny of Manhattan’s 843 acre public park can be seen thanks to a partnership with the Central Park Conservancy.
Both the North and South pools of the 9/11 Memorial at the World Trade centre can be perused through Street View.
Lastly, Google is now collaborating with Historypin to bring its community photo and video album called Hurricane Sandy: Record, Remember, Rebuild to life. The album lets anyone share old and new photos of areas hit by Sandy.
For those of us who live here, it can be hard enough just getting out of our own neighbourhoods, but this is a subtle reminder of just how big New York City is, and it allows even more people see just how great it is.