Google Maps Image That Depicts Murder Investigation Removed

Google Maps Image That Depicts Murder Investigation RemovedGoogle has certainly done its fair bit to make the world a whole lot smaller, at least in terms of a virtual environment. In fact, we are now able to check out the canals of Venice using Google Street View, but when it comes to Google Maps, there are some images that simply should not be shown. One of them would be an image of an alleged murder investigation, and it is comforting to know that Google had quickly agreed to remove and replace said satellite photo in Google Maps.

The particular image depicts the scene where 14-year-old Kevin Barrera was found shot and dead, located near several railway tracks in Richmond, California, four years ago. In this photo, there were also police officers who happened to be doing their jobs, investigating the gruesome crime scene. The victim’s father, Jose Barrera, stumbled upon this Google Maps photo just last week before he made a request to Google to remove this particular image. Brian McClendon, vice president of Google Maps, said, “Our hearts go out to the family of this young boy. Since the media first contacted us about the image, we’ve been looking at different technical solutions. Google has never accelerated the replacement of updated satellite imagery from our maps before, but given the circumstances we wanted to make an exception in this case.”

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  • Google Maps Image That Depicts Murder Investigation Removed original content from Ubergizmo.

        



    Olympics a Changed Event Thanks to Internet

    This article was written on April 04, 2008 by CyberNet.

    Like the 2008 U.S. Presidential Election, the 2008 Olympics in Beijing, China are being followed in a whole new way this time around, thanks to the Internet. With the Olympics quickly approaching, we’ll be seeing that more and more people follow the events leading up to the start of the games, and then of course the actual sporting events via the Internet whether it be through blogs, online news sites, or maps. And of course big Internet companies like Microsoft and Google are doing their part to make it happen by creating different sites and services related to the Olympics.

    We already know one huge way in which Microsoft will be involved, and that’s with their Silverlight platform. They teamed up with NBC several months ago to build www.nbcolympics.com and Microsoft’s Silverlight will be playing a pretty big role on that site. Offerings include:

    • 3,000 hours of on-demand Olympic videos will be available (replays, highlights, etc)
    • 20 simultaneous live video streams
    • 2,200 hours of live event video coverage
    • Full-screen viewing will be available
    • Metadata overlays so users can view statistics, bios, rules, etc.

    At this point Google is involved in the Olympics with Google Maps. Just yesterday on the Lat Long Blog, Google announced that they launched an embeddable map (shown below) as well as a Google Earth layer so that users can follow the path of the 2008 Torch Relay. Users can watch as the torch travels from city to city and over oceans to reach Beijing by August 8th.

    By pulling up http://maps.google.com/help/maps/torchrelay/ , we found that the Torch was in Istanbul, Turkey yesterday and tomorrow it will be in Saint Petersburg, Russia. Kids especially, could have a lot of fun with this and learn something in the process.

    Sources: TechCrunch, Google Earth Blog

    Copyright © 2013 CyberNetNews.com

    Google Street View Takes Us Through The Canals, Streets Of Venice, Italy

    We’ve seen Google Street View bring us some amazing views that we probably wouldn’t be able to see unless we decide to travel around the world. Earlier this year, Google gave us unrestricted access to a number of NFL stadiums, and today, the search giant is taking us to the watery canals of Venice, Italy. (more…)

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    Data Shows U.S. iPhone Owners Increasingly Adopted Apple Maps Over Google Maps

    Data Shows U.S. iPhone Owners Increasingly Adopted Apple Maps Over Google Maps

    Apple decided to replace Google Maps in iOS 6 with its own homegrown mapping service called Apple Maps. When iOS 6 was released in September 2012 and Apple Maps finally became available to users, it was chaos. The launch didn’t go smoothly at all, Apple Maps was plagued with issue from the start so much so that CEO Tim Cook had to issue a public apology. Moreover, it is believed that the Maps fiasco is what cost former iOS SVP Scott Forstall his job at Apple. Google provided an alternative by releasing Google Maps as a standalone app in the App Store. The latest data from comScore shows that contrary to popular belief, majority of U.S. iPhone users aren’t searching for an alternative, they’re all using Apple Maps.

    According to comScore, more than 35 million iPhone owners in the U.S. used Apple Maps in September 2013. Only 6 million iPhone users used Google Maps instead, and 2 million of these users are those who either have not updated to iOS 6 or have iPhones that can not be updated to iOS 6. As a result of being replaced by Apple Maps, Google’s mapping service as lost almost 23 million mobile customers in the U.S., which is without a doubt one of the most lucrative markets out there. Google Maps usage across iPhone and Android in the U.S. stands at over 58.7 million as of September 2013.

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    Google Maps revives Pegman, rolls out new features

    Those of you who have found the new Google Maps lacking may have reason to give it another chance. Starting today, Google will be rolling out a variety of new (and new-old) features designed to increase functionality within the desktop version of the searchable map service. For starters, Pegman for street view is back. You […]

    You Don’t Have to Enlist to Tour a 50-Year-Old Sub on Street View

    You Don't Have to Enlist to Tour a 50-Year-Old Sub on Street View

    Google Street View is slowly becoming the window to a world that most of us may never get to see in real life. And if you’ve already explored every last nook and cranny of CERN’s Large Hadron Collider via Street View, you can now head on over to the UK and poke around the retired HMS Ocelot; a 50 year old retired Oberon-class submarine.

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    Ingress beta open to all: Google’s game sticks with Android

    This week the folks at Google and Niantic have released their cages from the “closed beta” edition of Ingress to allow this augmented reality game to all. The game remains in “beta” mode, though we’re essentially seeing the entirety of this environment’s gameplay live right this minute. This game will be available to iOS users […]

    Google Maps Used To Discover Penis-Shaped Church

    Google Maps Used To Discover Penis Shaped Church

    We’re sure you’ve stumbled onto some interesting things while randomly browsing Google Maps right before your bed time, such as the Tardis Easter Egg. that was discovered just this past summer. But for a newly-constructed Christian Science church, Google Maps helped them discover what a jerk their architect probably was. (more…)

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    Google Street View visits Arlington National Cemetery

    Google has taken the Street View cameras through a wide variety of locations around the world. Last month we saw virtual tours of the Galapagos Islands come available and it looks like the same will soon be available for the Arlington National Cemetery. The tour was created in October with the changing of the seasons, […]

    Google Maps Engine Pro unveiled for business mapping needs

    Google has introduced a new tool aimed at helping businesses map their data on Maps: Google Maps Engine Pro. With the tool comes the ability to important important data, such as the location of business offices, as well as sharing information, with Google Maps. The tool is built upon Google Maps Engine, hence the name. […]