Better Maps

On my drive home through Vidalia, I noticed a strange colored Toyota Sienna parked on the Main Street. With huge lettering on the back window, "We're mapping your world", I thought to myself...

"Self, I wonder if this is the van that take the photos for Google Maps' Street View?"

I make my way to the nearest side street in order to get a better look. Inside the van was a young man, laptop mounted where the passenger would normally sit.

His mission was to re-map various new and revised streets and roads in Georgia. Not only does Tele Atlas take the photos for Street View, but they sell the update info to Mapquest, Yahoo Maps, Microsoft MapPoint (which includes Streets and Trips) and the mapping software for the GPSr and auto navigation companies.

With the One Way Pairing in Vidalia make steady progress, what was once two ways streets are now One Way. If I were to hook up the laptop and start Streets and Trips, I would get an "Off Route" notice for the west bound portion of my journey home from McDonald's to the Twin Ponds.