maps > google’s

A view of Shanghai's "Edushi," meaning E-City

I’ve been reading a lot about maps lately, and today I recalled an Architizer story about a map-making company in China:

One Chinese company … may be surpassing the Google Maps model, using pixel-art illustration techniques to reproduce China’s largest cities online. Edushi—which means “E-City” in Chinese—is a HangZhou-based company that produces incredible 3D interactive maps of most major Chinese cities. The maps are not that dissimilar to Google Maps (pan, zoom, etc.). But where Edushi really seems to exceed Google … is in the rendering style. Unlike the clunky, half-empty 3D version of Google Maps, each Edushi city is modeled seemingly down to the last window mullion.

Go see Edushi’s virtual Shanghai for yourself.

images

One explanation of a surprise storm last week

Chicago, as seen by geotagged posts via Flickr and Twitter

"What Bringeth Forth the Morrow?", propaganda poster from the Soviet Union, 1942

Kurt Russel and Meryl Streep at the 1989 Academy Awards

 :: :: ::

image 1 by Andrew Huff

image 2 by Eric Fischer

image 3 by Vladimir Vasil’evich Lebedev

image 4 by Alan Light

Map

The ex-Catholic cathedral on the corner is our map; its spire leads us home.
We say hello to those we pass, stopping a while to joke around with Zanay or chat with D, who both live on Washington like we do.
We met Wessie and her son the other day; she managed property and gardened, and he was a carpenter working on  Trump Tower.
T.Y. was very polite, if a bit incredulous.
I didn’t get to meet Birch, but I heard he was cool, just like all the gentlemen from the church, like Deacon Stewart and Brother John, who helped us get the yard mowed yesterday.
East of us is a long street of apartment buildings and beautiful houses; every few blocks one is boarded up.
We can turn north on Pulaski and find our local coffeehouse, run by Sherman, a good-natured guy who values community over everything.
If we go south, we have our Laundromat and Family Dollar.
East down Madison is Aldi, our grocery store, and anything else we need. Every other storefront has shoes on display. If we keep going that way we hit Garfield Park, a beautiful expanse of trees and grass, dipping low to meet the water of a small pond.
Walking west we see more people, some playing basketball, some just on their stoops. Jeremy’s house is across the street from the charter school by our church.
We are on the corner of Washington and Kildare.
Our house is beige brick, three floors including the basement, a huge yard. Inside we have brown carpet and cream-colored walls, which hold our sparse collection of art.
A skeleton climbs the Eiffel Tower.
Our whole living room cost about $70.