

Google maps 8bit quest mode.  A setup for 4/1 perhaps? - loucal
http://maps.google.com/maps?q=queens,+ny&hl=en&sll=37.0625,-95.677068&sspn=40.188298,71.630859&t=8&hnear=Queens,+New+York&z=11

======
sirn
Try going to 0.00,0.00 and zoom in.

(spoilers warning)

This is what you get: <http://i.imgur.com/JJxGn.png>

There's also another one in a deeper zoom level.

~~~
digitallimit
Madison, Wisconsin (<http://g.co/maps/pnsev>) has an imagined Monona Terrace
as well as some kids with silly hats.

~~~
rexreed
The region around MIT in Cambridge, MA shows similar detail:
[https://maps.google.com/maps?q=cambridge+ma&hl=en&ll...](https://maps.google.com/maps?q=cambridge+ma&hl=en&ll=42.361556,-71.091027&spn=0.012652,0.01929&sll=43.076913,-89.380302&sspn=0.012507,0.01929&t=8&hnear=Mid-
Cambridge,+Middlesex,+Massachusetts&z=16)

------
mikek
Youtube announcement:

<http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rznYifPHxDg>

------
kalleboo
Interesting, if you look at Pyongyang (North Korea), it has a bunch of labels
that don't show if you use their regular maps. They're quite detailed too, it
shows "Statue 2 of 'The Newly Freed Proletariat Thanks To The Grat Leader Kim
Il-Sung'", schools and such. They must have hidden map data they don't show
normally that leaked into this map. <http://g.co/maps/tg9jy>

------
fiblye
A nice little detail for Pittsburghers: <http://i.imgur.com/fQR4u.png>

I wonder how many cities they made landmarks for?

~~~
paulsmith
Here's a tumblelog of easter eggs, open for submissions:
<http://gmaps8biteastereggs.tumblr.com/>

~~~
mieubrisse
Tokyo, Japan:

[http://maps.google.com/maps?q=Tokyo,+Japan&hl=en&ll=...](http://maps.google.com/maps?q=Tokyo,+Japan&hl=en&ll=35.68808,139.694595&spn=0.024225,0.052357&sll=35.689488,139.691706&sspn=0.775175,1.675415&oq=tokyo&t=8&hnear=Tokyo,+Japan&z=15)

~~~
ekianjo
Sky Tree (recently huge Tower built in Tokyo) here:
[http://maps.google.com/maps?q=Tokyo,+Japan&hl=en&ll=...](http://maps.google.com/maps?q=Tokyo,+Japan&hl=en&ll=35.707667,139.809952&spn=0.031502,0.066047&sll=35.689488,139.691706&sspn=0.775175,1.675415&oq=tokyo&t=8&hnear=Tokyo,+Japan&z=15)

------
NelsonMinar
It's a pretty impressive map for an April Fool's joke. Particularly like the
2d rendered buildings for landmarks like the Eiffel Tower, Sutro Tower in SF,
etc. Presumably somewhat inspired by Brett Camper's 2010 project 8bitNYC.
<http://8bitcity.com/map?New%20York>

The YouTube video is hilarious.

------
DrewHintz
Google is finally going to support the NES:
<http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rznYifPHxDg>

~~~
withad
Even though I think this is great, it still kind of annoys me that they keep
calling it a NES when they're clearly using a Famicom. I suspect that's
actually going to confuse a lot of people.

~~~
_delirium
It looks like the video was made by Japanese, but they probably used the name
"NES" because it's more familiar to English-speaking audiences who're likely
to make up the majority of video views.

~~~
ekianjo
This was probably made by their Google Japan branch, that's why they only had
regular Famicom available.

------
loucal
Drag the hero on to the map somewhere and he will land somewhere with
streetview, which gets turned into 8bit, hilarious.

~~~
mjn
That's pretty great. I've wanted for a while to find a way to layer image
effects onto Google Street View, to be able to move around the world in a sort
of alternate processed reality. But afaik, there's no straightfoward way to
add a filter like that unless you're Google. There's an image API, but the
resolution is only 640x480. There's an undocumented image API with higher-res
images, but you'll get banned if you make more than occasional usage of it.
Perhaps it'd be possible to do it via a browser extension that renders the
effects locally?

[edit: Just thought of one possible route. There's a WebGL beta for Street
View; perhaps you could add effects by injecting some WebGL shader code, given
appropriate local security permissions?]

So far I've been just experimenting with grabbing a few hundred images from
the undocumented API and applying effects locally. This is the result of one
experiment (hit [reload] at the top/right for new images):
<http://www.kmjn.org/projects/cyanocph/>

~~~
loucal
nice! I really like that. Thanks for posting this.

------
evincarofautumn
Dragon Warrior! Man, I loved that game, despite its flaws. The gameplay was
really slow-paced, and the random battles were kind of annoying. But it was
unabashedly itself, and I guess I fell in love with the world and the good ol’
swords-and-sorcery style. It helps that the NES is just an excellent
system—mine’s still in perfect working order.

~~~
jahmed
Yeah the music in the video really brought me back for a second. I was just
thinking about my old NES wondering where in my parents house it could be and
if I could play earthbound.

------
rburhum
8bit city with map tiles have been for awhile now using Openstreetmap as the
source. An example that has been arou d for years is this
<http://8bitcity.com/map?New%20York>

------
7952
Seriously, more casual maps can work well in presenting information.
<http://sh.edushi.com/>

~~~
seagreen
That's gorgeous! I found more info here if anyone's interested (I can't read
Chinese):
[http://www.popsci.com/scitech/article/2009-06/edushis-3-d-pi...](http://www.popsci.com/scitech/article/2009-06/edushis-3-d-pixel-
art-maps-chinese-cities-put-google-maps-shame)

------
brendannee
You can use these 8bit tiles in your own project, its quite easy to switch the
tile layer of any google maps site: [http://blog.bn.ee/2012/03/31/how-to-use-
google-maps-8-bit-ti...](http://blog.bn.ee/2012/03/31/how-to-use-google-
maps-8-bit-tiles-in-your-own-project/)

I updated walksy.com to use these tiles: <http://walksy.com/?8bit>

~~~
bsimpson
You show Nob Hill, San Francisco as a part of the Presidio:

"Nob Hill California and Mason, SF Tags: neighborhood, architecture, history,
parks 34 reviews on [http://www.yelp.com/biz/felicia-gelardi-skin-care-san-
franci...](http://www.yelp.com/biz/felicia-gelardi-skin-care-san-francisco)
StreetView"

That's very much the wrong neighborhood.

~~~
brendannee
This is fixed - thanks for pointing that issue out!

------
aaronsw
Google offices are apparently marked with surprisingly-unpixelated
propellerheads. There's also some custom art for SF landmarks.

~~~
mikeleeorg
I was so hoping I could see the propellerheads in closer detail with the
Street View, but alas...

------
subpixel
Funny, I met Brett of <http://8bitcity.com/map> this week ;)

------
nilsjuenemann
Google Streetview is also available in 8 bit mode:

[http://maps.google.com/maps?q=googleplex&hl=en&ll=37...](http://maps.google.com/maps?q=googleplex&hl=en&ll=37.421725,-122.083747&spn=0.012611,0.023217&sll=52.531887,13.434992&sspn=0.038428,0.092869&t=8&hq=googleplex&radius=15000&z=16&layer=c&cbll=37.420836,-122.084885&panoid=tLjwO4QEuljVhPL1ERQ8lw&cbp=12,0,,0,0)

~~~
objclxt
...only in the Flash viewer though: not on WebGL (to save anyone clicking the
link who's opted into the WebGL beta).

~~~
tesseract
a possible word of warning: I disabled MapsGL to see it. In the past there has
always been a button to get back into GL mode, but I can't find it anymore so
I am now stuck in Flash.

~~~
objclxt
Yes, me too. I _assume_ it will be coming back post April 1st...

------
dustmop
As of an hour and a half ago, it's April 1 in Japan.

------
mkeblx
My first instinct was to look under the hood for some sprites I could use for
a map based game. No luck, all the cool building/characters seem embedded in
the the actual tiles.

Is there any way Google would try to make an actual game out of this? I know
there are other successful online 8-bit-ish RPGs that use the Google Maps as a
base...

------
fruchtose
Can anyone identify this strange object?

[http://maps.google.com/maps?q=queens,+ny&hl=en&ll=39...](http://maps.google.com/maps?q=queens,+ny&hl=en&ll=39.741102,-75.322115&spn=0.005956,0.010697&sll=37.0625,-95.677068&sspn=40.188298,71.630859&t=8&hnear=Queens,+New+York&z=17)

~~~
mbetter
Looks like a druinlord.

------
nkassis
Cool they did the montreal Biosphere and the Habitat 67 building but no
Olympic stadium :(

[http://maps.google.com/maps?q=Biosph%C3%A8re,+Montreal,+QC,+...](http://maps.google.com/maps?q=Biosph%C3%A8re,+Montreal,+QC,+Canada&hl=en&ie=UTF8&ll=45.507974,-73.532529&spn=0.030406,0.066047&sll=46.104145,-74.299193&sspn=3.850534,8.453979&oq=biosphere+&t=9&hq=Biosph%C3%A8re,+Montreal,+QC,+Canada&z=15)

------
stephengillie
A troll or something near Mount Rainier:
[http://maps.google.com/maps?q=47.04299,-122.051239&hl=en...](http://maps.google.com/maps?q=47.04299,-122.051239&hl=en&ll=47.040211,-122.036251&spn=0.005111,0.011362&sll=47.042054,-121.784821&sspn=0.658835,0.553436&t=8&z=173436&t=8&z=10)

------
perone
Just look on the copyright message in bottom right: SQUARE ENIX. Final
fantasy.

~~~
runevault
Actually Dragon Warrior not FF, which was an Enix property pre-merger.

------
LVB
Monster: <http://goo.gl/ER97T>

~~~
nilsjuenemann
I created a tumblr to collect all the monsters!

<http://map-monster.tumblr.com/>

Found a monster? Leave a link into the comments.

~~~
ttttannebaum
Try:

Volgograd

Pogradec

Randazzo

Paceco

Balfour, Mpumalanga, South Africa (zoom out)

Makasa, Northern, Zambia (zoom out)

Goch

Mallow, Ireland

Just found them by searching around. Not sure if there's any logic to where
they're placed, besides on land.

------
Cieplak
Discussion on reddit:

[http://www.reddit.com/r/technology/comments/rmfr1/browse_goo...](http://www.reddit.com/r/technology/comments/rmfr1/browse_google_maps_in_8bit/)

------
waiwai933
If you try to replicate the route from Los Angeles to New York on Google Maps
8-bit Quest mode, it's not nearly the same route as the one in the video.
Curious they missed that.

------
jbg_
It’s been April Fools Day in New Zealand for 14 hours, so I guess rather than
it being setup in advance, they just launched it in time for the first country
to hit 1/4.

~~~
jlees
It was created by the Tokyo office, so was launched on time for them. :)

------
glenntzke
There's a :P monster lurking at 35.371205,138.639039. He alludes you despite
zooming in. There are some interesting images all over this area of the map.

------
werdnanoslen
Try searching for something, then specify the time range. Check the last
option (changes on reload) :)

------
gsivil
If it is possible post links to images not to google map links because they do
not work for everyone

------
cdvonstinkpot
Somehow I got the map to split-screen with street view, and all the street
view's in 8-bit, too.

------
alan_cx
Damn google, I don't want to look at it, I want to play it!!!

------
marcelfahle
Haha, they're insane.. I love this. Great April fools'

------
mgkimsal
Reminds me of Ultima II. Or was that Ultima ][ ?

~~~
MrFoof
Specifically it is the original Dragon Quest (Dragon Warrior in the US).

~~~
kbutler
Yes: <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Dragon_quest_battle_2.png>

------
why-el
This looks like an early April's fool to me.

~~~
piotrSikora
Why early? It's already April 1st in eastern part of the world.

~~~
bsimpson
Everyone knows the Internet only work in California.

------
taylorbuley
I'm curious how this was found?

~~~
Vaanir
There's a quest button in the top right when using Maps, as of a hour or so
ago I guess.

~~~
brandonhall
Matt Cutts tweeting is how I found out.

------
NatW
Try Street View! Awesome.

------
mehrshad
Good lord, nothing's made me miss Zelda and SimCity as much as this. Kudos
Google.

------
tubbo
Oh god the world is SimCity Classic...

------
forgotusername
Launching these changes couldn't be quick, easy, or cheap, especially when
accompanied by the polished intro video, and while incredibly cute, I wonder
how many here would have preferred for Code Search to continue life in
exchange for not expending resources on feel-good projects like this, or e.g.
the frequent doodles, the novelty of which has long since worn off.

~~~
beaumartinez
True, but—a happy employee is a productive employee. If you get to build
something a bit silly, a bit cheeky, a bit different every now and
again—wouldn't you like your job just that little bit more?

------
caublestone
Does anyone else see these projects, the always changing Google logo, and G+
as proof that Google just has way too much talent and not enough useful ideas?

~~~
cloudwalking
I think Google likes to have fun.

~~~
steve-howard
Further, if your job is somewhere that you have fun and are free to
occasionally make interesting-but-useless things, you're less likely to quit.

------
solsenNet
This looks... erm ... neat. A "sophomore OpenGL term project" kind of neat.
Baidu on the other hand does the maps right [0], which hardly surprising given
their 20 years of head start. On a more general note, this reminds me of old
Microsoft's tactics. Google should really stick to the search, but instead
they throw together something that mimics competitor's feature. Something that
looks more featureful and which is free, but upon closer inspection is
effectively a half-ass effort, because it's an entirely different domain
that's not their specialty.

[0]
[http://map.baidu.com/?newmap=1&l=15&tn=B_DIMENSIONAL...](http://map.baidu.com/?newmap=1&l=15&tn=B_DIMENSIONAL_MAP&c=1070242,8946925&cc=sh&s=cur%26curtp%3D0%26wd%3D%E4%B8%8A%E6%B5%B7&sc=0)

~~~
patrickyeon
And now I'm left wondering how this comment relates to
<http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=3777709> from yesterday...

~~~
sad_panda
The same comment, from two different accounts. Both related to Google
products. Is this the 2012 version of "Netcraft confirms that BSD is dying"?

solsenNet 32 minutes ago | link This looks... erm ... neat. A "sophomore
OpenGL term project" kind of neat. Baidu on the other hand does the maps right
[0], which hardly surprising given their 20 years of head start. On a more
general note, this reminds me of old Microsoft's tactics. Google should really
stick to the search, but instead they throw together something that mimics
competitor's feature. Something that looks more featureful and which is free,
but upon closer inspection is effectively a half-ass effort, because it's an
entirely different domain that's not their specialty. [0]
[http://map.baidu.com/?newmap=1&l=15&tn=B_DIMENSIONAL...](http://map.baidu.com/?newmap=1&l=15&tn=B_DIMENSIONAL..).

huhtenberg 23 hours ago | link | parent | flag This looks... erm ... neat. A
"sophomore OpenGL term project" kind of neat. Wolfram on the other hand does
the graphs right [0], which hardly surprising given their 20 years of head
start. On a more general note, this reminds me of old Microsoft's tactics.
Google should really stick to the search, but instead they throw together
something that mimics competitor's feature. Something that looks more
featureful and which is free, but upon closer inspection is effectively a
half-ass effort, because it's an entirely different domain that's not their
specialty. [0]
[http://www.wolframalpha.com/input/?i=sqrt%28x*x%2By*y%29%2B3...](http://www.wolframalpha.com/input/?i=sqrt%28x*x%2By*y%29%2B3..).

~~~
mladenkovacevic
Haha what are these some weird PR-bots? (or in this case bad PR-bots)

~~~
sad_panda
Or astroturfing...

