Where I used to live in Rio de Janeiro

Armanius

Bring Jack back!
Location
Houston, Texas
Name
Jack
I've used Google Maps and the "street view" feature many times in the past to find directions here in the US. I bought a Google Nexus 7 recently (straying from the Apple world), and while playing with Google Earth, I decided to "visit" my home country of Brazil. I thought the "street view" feature was limited to the US. But to my pleasant surprise, Google mapped out most of Rio de Janeiro. I was literally "walking" on a virtual world and showing my wife my old hangout places, my old school, the beaches, and other noteworthy places of my childhood. My last time in Brazil (physically) was in 1989.

Here's a screen shot from Google's "street view" of the high rise condo I grew up in. This is located in Praia de Flamengo. The park next to the high rise was part of the old presidential palace during the times that Rio de Janeiro was the capital of Brazil. The last Brazilian president that lived in the presidential palace committed suicide there. The place is a museum now, and they kept the room where he committed suicide in the same way (minus the blood splatter). I spent many hours in that park. Great memories.

Rio.jpg
 
Actually not a bad photograph... Street view is amazing. I'd visited all of the streets in Positano before we got there, to see where our place was and what the walk down to the bottom of town was like. And the hotels we stayed at in Naples were in pretty sketchy areas, so I definitely checked out the streets around there to figure out where we should go (and possibly where we shouldn't)... There are areas it doesn't cover, but there probably won't be for long...

-Ray
 
Streetview is an amazing thing. I've only very briefly used it for other countries, but I've used it a lot for Australia, and for checking out local eateries before driving there! Knowing that a nearby street provides parking is very handy, and knowing what the street in that area looks like helps a lot when driving to a new restaurant.
 
It must have been special to walk around in the virtual version of your neighbourhood. Next step is wearing a VR helmet and be in the middle of it,
 
It must have been special to walk around in the virtual version of your neighbourhood. Next step is wearing a VR helmet and be in the middle of it,

It was very special. I've always wanted to see what the old neighborhood looked like after 20+ years, and also wanted to show my wife. It's cheaper than getting a planet ticket and flying there!
 
I find Streetview very handy for checking an area before making a hotel booking, and for rehearsing tricky junctions and concealed turnings when planning a route. But I do get an odd sense of deja vu when I drive along a street I've previously checked with Streetview - it's like I've been there before when I know I haven't.

I also find there's a danger of exploring an area so comprehensively with Streetview that when I actually get there it's no longer a pleasure to roam around and discover what's around the corner.

-R
 
I love streetview when they actually photographed properly. I was looking at street view one time and the sun was directly facing the camera and for miles the streetview was useless.
 
There's another scenario you sometimes come across in urban areas, where the Google camera car evidently travelled alongside another moving vehicle for the whole length of a street while recording, thereby obscuring all the buildings on one side.

A while back I was trying to find a restaurant in Central London and the parade of shops where I thought it was located was completely obscured by a red bus. It didn't help if I went forward on Streetview and looked back, or backed up and looked forward. Every image for fifty yards or so showed the same red bus.

-R
 
Nice to see where you used to live. I had the chance to move there 2 years ago but it didn't work out.

I use google street view a lot also, but hasn't checked lately which cities they cover outside of US. I saw some doing street photography with it and also government(s) use to catch tax evaders:)
 
I often tried to use Street View when we were looking at "our new place" before actually visiting...out here in the country street view is usually only available on main roads. That said, I could usually get a really good overview on Google or Bing.

But enough about me - that is VERY cool to be able to go back in time and see where you grew up!
 
Back
Top