[ExI] google maps creates enders game moment

[Anders Sandberg]

On 2013-11-10 15:56, spike wrote:
>
> So I did, and I came to an intersection they would only identify as this:
>
> ???????? ?????, Moscow, Russia
>
> Address is approximate
>

Googling it leads me to 
https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D0%9B%D1%8F%D0%BB%D0%B8%D0%BD_%D0%BF%D0%B5%D1%80%D0%B5%D1%83%D0%BB%D0%BE%D0%BA, 
which google translate turns into "Lialin lane". Seems to be a nice street.

>
> Well not really.  But it is really cool in any case to see what Google 
> maps has done.
>

It is pretty amazing. I use it in my roleplaying games to get realistic 
descriptions of the surroundings ("Across Ben Yehuda from your cafe 
there is a burger bar/thai/Subway building with a flat roof. Suddenly 
you see the telltale glint from a sniper scope on the second floor 
balcony... what do you do?")

> I did have a real question for anyone who knows from Russia.  Where 
> are all the houses?  Does everyone in and around Moscow live in those 
> big apartment buildings? Do they not have anything analogous to 
> American suburbs? Where are they?
>

Look at 
https://maps.google.co.uk/maps?q=moscow&hl=en&ll=55.908148,37.482841&spn=0.003404,0.010568&sll=32.077577,34.768397&sspn=0.001295,0.002642&gl=uk&hnear=Moscow,+gorod+Moskva,+Russia&t=h&z=17
- yes, there are suburbs with villas. But most suburbs are of the big 
apartment type.

It is actually quite telling how few villa-suburbs there are in Russian 
cities. Looking at Helsinki over in Finland you find lots of them, like 
https://maps.google.co.uk/maps?q=moscow&hl=en&ll=60.244949,24.933985&spn=0.012055,0.042272&sll=32.077577,34.768397&sspn=0.001295,0.002642&gl=uk&hnear=Moscow,+gorod+Moskva,+Russia&t=h&z=15&layer=c&cbll=60.244949,24.933985&panoid=_xWZ5d6hqfcgf6WZ9a-1SQ&cbp=12,0,,0,0
- a lot of big apartment suburbs too, of course. A sign of the amount of 
central planning of the economy, and how much individual 
wealth/self-control there was.

In fact, to me it is hard to tell Helsinki and Stockholm apart if just 
shown a random location in the suburbs. Of course, some places are dear 
to my heart like the street of my childhood:
https://maps.google.co.uk/maps?q=Hagalundsgatan+11,+Solna,+Sweden&hl=en&ie=UTF8&ll=59.362816,18.008855&spn=0.000774,0.002642&sll=60.24503,24.934373&sspn=0.012055,0.042272&oq=hagalundsgatan+11,+sol&t=h&gl=uk&hnear=Hagalundsgatan+11,+169+65+Solna,+Stockholms+l%C3%A4n,+Sweden&z=19&layer=c&cbll=59.362816,18.008855&panoid=nWiZTJBEpKmqngHhNSzHSw&cbp=12,87.85,,0,-11.7
(much nicer than it looks, I promise)

-- 
Dr Anders Sandberg
Future of Humanity Institute
Oxford Martin School
Oxford University

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