Monday, April 11, 2005
Google Maps now with satellite images
[From Eugene Letuchy] Following up on my previous post on Google Maps, Google Maps now has satellite images. Go to maps.google.com. Type in your search query, and click "Satellite" : the effect is quite striking! The transition to the satellite map is not exact as you can tell from the coastline. Superimposing the two maps is a really neat idea, though.
Suhit and Atanu have posted on Deeshaa before on the transaction costs associated with lack of organized street addressing in India.
A typical letter in a typical developed world would read:
Ramesh Singh
123 Gandhi Road
Pune, Maharashtra 44123
In India, it would be
Ramesh Singh
Networld Building
Opp: Star Cinemas
Vasant Sagar Complex near Local Station
Deccan Gymkhana
Pune, Maharashtra 44123
Anybody who has been in a developing nation such as India without organized street addressing (or even countries like Japan that don't have such a system for historical reasons) knows how incredibly frustrating it is to spend time and effort in simply locating a street address. Since street addressing reduces transaction costs for everybody, the folks at Deeshaa have argued that it might be a good idea for the government to participate in standardizing street addresses. I think it would be a great thing to have, but I wouldn't hold my breath. What this might be, though, is an entrepreneurial opportunity for people to start a mapping service charging a few cents per lookup. Publicly available mapping technology could prove to be leap-frogging technology in developing nations.
On a different note : I have a whole bunch of GMail ids to give out. I am sure that the savvy readers of Zoo Station are all likely to have one by now, but if perchance you don't, please leave your id in the comments (username AT domainname DOT com) if you would like to get one. Two, if you are Japanese. Arigato gozaimasu.
Suhit and Atanu have posted on Deeshaa before on the transaction costs associated with lack of organized street addressing in India.
A typical letter in a typical developed world would read:
Ramesh Singh
123 Gandhi Road
Pune, Maharashtra 44123
In India, it would be
Ramesh Singh
Networld Building
Opp: Star Cinemas
Vasant Sagar Complex near Local Station
Deccan Gymkhana
Pune, Maharashtra 44123
Anybody who has been in a developing nation such as India without organized street addressing (or even countries like Japan that don't have such a system for historical reasons) knows how incredibly frustrating it is to spend time and effort in simply locating a street address. Since street addressing reduces transaction costs for everybody, the folks at Deeshaa have argued that it might be a good idea for the government to participate in standardizing street addresses. I think it would be a great thing to have, but I wouldn't hold my breath. What this might be, though, is an entrepreneurial opportunity for people to start a mapping service charging a few cents per lookup. Publicly available mapping technology could prove to be leap-frogging technology in developing nations.
On a different note : I have a whole bunch of GMail ids to give out. I am sure that the savvy readers of Zoo Station are all likely to have one by now, but if perchance you don't, please leave your id in the comments (username AT domainname DOT com) if you would like to get one. Two, if you are Japanese. Arigato gozaimasu.
