
Google Maps has removed the collapsed I-5 bridge in WA - tkone
https://maps.google.com/?ll=48.446034,-122.339952&spn=0.005558,0.015342&t=m&z=17
======
tkone
News story:
[http://www.seattlepi.com/local/article/Interstate-5-bridge-c...](http://www.seattlepi.com/local/article/Interstate-5-bridge-
collapses-over-Skagit-River-4544826.php)

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tobinfricke
This is a more popular story than the fact that the bridge collapsed in the
first place?

~~~
Trufa
To be fair, the fact that the bridge collapsed, while it is news, it's no news
for HN.

The technological aspect of google maps being able to so quickly update it is
in fact, new for HN.

Another thing that I agree would be interesting is a detailed technical
explanation of why the bridge collapse, that I'd assume would be HN material
as well.

~~~
scott_s
I don't think that something has to be strictly "technical" to be on HN. I
would like to see the the story on how the bridge came to be in the state it
is in on HN - not just the technical explanation for what happened, but why
did we choose to allocate our resources in such a way that the failure
occurred.

~~~
trhtrsh
Comments on reddit mentioned that the bridge was condemned in 1992, and
repeatedly since then, but no one bothered to fix it. I thought we had a big
goverment stimulus package for shovel-ready projects over the past few
years...

------
raimue
OpenStreetMap still has it:
[http://www.openstreetmap.org/?lat=48.4451&lon=-122.34063...](http://www.openstreetmap.org/?lat=48.4451&lon=-122.34063&zoom=16)

I tried to mark it as closed, but did not find any option for that in
potlatch. Can someone else with more experience with OSM help out?

~~~
milliams
I had look at this history and someone marked the roads as closed some time
last night. The bridge itself was later removed by another user. Later still,
another user (from Turkey) seems to have completely replaced everything back
to normal for some reason. We need a local user to make the correct changes
and make sure they're kept that way.

[http://www.openstreetmap.org/browse/changesets?bbox=-122.345...](http://www.openstreetmap.org/browse/changesets?bbox=-122.345719%2C48.443027%2C-122.336417%2C48.446568)

------
chippy
It's more accurately mapped in OpenStreetMap
[http://www.openstreetmap.org/?lat=48.4451&lon=-122.34063...](http://www.openstreetmap.org/?lat=48.4451&lon=-122.34063&zoom=16)

~~~
C1D
Thanks for posting that link. That site is actually very interesting.

------
hackmiester
If I zoom out, I don't see it: <http://puu.sh/3081u.png>

But at the default zoom level, I do see it: <http://puu.sh/30828.png>

~~~
claudius
If you zoom it, it appears somewhat dotted/dashed. Maybe for
‘planned’/‘currently being built’?

~~~
devrelm
This is correct. When I scrolled south towards the nearest on/off ramps, I
could see "(planned)" over the road.

------
spuz
Interestingly, it still provides directions over the bridge:
<http://goo.gl/maps/J2mVS>

~~~
albertzeyer
Well, it says: "This road will be temporarily closed starting on 24 May." :)

------
skriticos2
So what's next? A camera drone quadrocopter flies out and updates street view
once something notable changes? That would be classy.

~~~
pekk
Sensors in the bridge to tell when it's in a dangerous state; Google et al.
consume the feed to update routing

~~~
devrelm
Interesting problem. How do Google's self-driving cars react to road problems
such as bridge-collapses and sinkholes? Scanning for objects and avoiding
objects which extend above the road level is obvious, but what about when the
road cuts off? These things rarely happen, but it would be terrifying to be in
a self-driving car in that moment when the bridge ahead of you collapses and
the car continues to drive as if there is nothing wrong.

I actually had a similar thought yesterday when thinking about how the cars
would handle object-avoidance. Say a deer hops out in front of the car. The
car is constantly aware of its environment for 100+ feet in all directions, so
it could tell if there are no cars in a neighboring lane and swerve to miss
the deer. But what if there _are_ cars in neighboring lanes and the only
available direction is to go onto the shoulder or into the ditch? If the ditch
is fairly level with the road, then this could be the safest option. But if
the ditch is steep, then it would be more dangerous than simply hitting the
brakes and hoping you don't hit the deer too hard.

~~~
maxerickson
I would think that road integrity would be on the long list of things covered
in any licensing process (you and I can think of it in a few moments, ergo). I
would also guess it is important for the system to be able to estimate an
appropriate speed even when external data is not available.

For the deer, I would expect the programmed response to be to brake as much as
possible given traffic. Hitting a deer is unlikely to result in anything but
damage to the vehicle. Swerving is less predictable than that.

~~~
xur17
I'm curious if it monitors cars behind it to prevent rear end collisions
(brake slower if the car is about to hit it).

~~~
devrelm
If I were designing it it would. That is a common technique that I use in
heavy traffic (that scares the crap out of my wife.)

------
ankit84
I am a mapmaker editor and I have seen my changes instantaneously get
published to prod/GoogleMaps for everyone to consume over Internet. I think
this depends on how mature the editor is.

Btw, there are plenty of nerdy ppl to correct the web. Ref:
<http://xkcd.com/386/>

------
Petefine
strangely, it's currently still there if you zoom in a bit though.

~~~
doorhammer
I noticed this as well. At the default level of zoom my browser was at with
the link, the bridge was there. When I zoomed out one level or more, it
wasn't.

~~~
allwein
If you zoom in a little further, you'll notice that the road is actually
outlined in a dotted line and notated as "planned". So it's there just as a
placeholder.

------
general_failure
I won't ask if apple maps still has it.

~~~
metavida
Bridge is still visible on Apple Maps, though at least they added little
warning/info indicators:
[http://farm4.staticflickr.com/3706/8813508276_05c689345b_o.p...](http://farm4.staticflickr.com/3706/8813508276_05c689345b_o.png)

------
outside1234
I'm just surprised that nobody has blamed Canada yet.

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mach5
it's off of waze too

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michaelochurch
Apparently Google is quick to respond to infrastructural failures.

So why didn't it remove calibration scores, and convert the Perf Room to
something fun like an arcade (well, it already is a casino, so maybe something
else) many years ago?

~~~
VikingCoder
Well, they got you to leave.

(For the record, I feel bad saying this... but I'm also just returning snark
with snark, so... oh well.)

~~~
michaelochurch
There's a difference. You know very little about me and where I come from and
why I see things the way I do. Do I bring a lot of negativity into these
discussions? Sure, but that's needed because I don't want thousands of people
to repeat mistakes that I did. If bringing a realistic or even slightly
pessimistic tone to this often out-of-touch startup discussion is the cost to
prevent a thousand young kids from wrecking their careers, then good.

However, I've articulated deep managerial problems with Google that the
company refuses to solve, and many of those can be fixed easily and for free.

So there's no comparison between what I say and what you said.

~~~
VikingCoder
I know you're the type of person who publicly tells their former employer,
"Choke on a fucking taint, Google. Choke. On. A. Taint."

<https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=5508058>

I also know you think there are easy and free solutions to the problems that
every company on the planet struggles with every day (measuring and rewarding
performance).

I think you're arrogant, disrespectful, and that you over-simplify problems to
an absurd degree.

I can conclude that if I worked at Google, I don't think I'd appreciate
working on your team.

And you're right, my post didn't have very much to do with yours. Did yours
have a lot to do with Google Maps responding quickly to an emerging tragedy?
No, it did not.

~~~
michaelochurch
_I know you're the type of person who publicly tells their former employer,
"Choke on a fucking taint, Google. Choke. On. A. Taint."_

You shaved off the enclosing context: $100M payouts to nontechnical executives
when regular engineers can't even transfer without permission of the perf-
industrial complex. I'm sorry, but I just can't defend a company that behaves
that way. Seriously, you think it's okay that engineers have to deal with
phony scarcity ("calibration score" and "headcount" nonsense) when non-
technical executives make _several hundred times more_?

 _I think you're arrogant, disrespectful, and that you over-simplify problems
to an absurd degree._

It's more that I don't have patience for junk complexity that exists only to
keep power for those who don't deserve it.

 _Did yours have a lot to do with Google Maps responding quickly to an
emerging tragedy?_

Yes, actually. It's good that they updated their map quickly. If they paid the
same respect to internal problems, they'd be a much better company.

~~~
VikingCoder
You're lying: I did not shave off the enclosing context, I explicitly provided
the link for everyone to see.

It's good that they got you to leave. If they got everyone like you to leave,
it would be a much better company. See, my post has exactly as much relevancy
as yours does.

