Google Maps and Tour de France 2008
Google has partnered with Tour de France to bring us the Street View feature for all 21 stages of the 2008 Tour. I think much of France is extraordinarily beautiful, so even if you’re not a Tour person, you’ll probably be able to find some pictures that you really dig.
Check out the intro video:
When I first heard about this project, I thought, “Cool!” but now I look at it and think, “Ah-ha! Google is using the icon of a person on a bicycle to represent this!”
It might not seem like a big deal, but it is still kind of cool. There is really no way a Google developer could work on this and not think, “Darn—we should have bicycle directions on Google Maps.”
Here’s a snapshot of what this Tour feature looks like, from Stage 3, Saint-Malo to Nantes:
On a semi-related note, some time ago I went to a Tour de France “viewing party” at a movie theatre in Arlington, Virginia (metro Washington, D.C.). A Washington Post blog entry about the 2005 party is here. This was one of the best events that I have ever attended. I hope they’re doing it again this year, but I don’t know. BikePortland.org also has a couple of older blog posts that mention viewing parties. I tried to crank one up in Palo Alto a year or two ago, but didn’t have much luck. I hope to see more of these all over the place.
