Real-life Google Maps marker erected in Berlin

If you've ever used Google Maps you'll be familiar with the little red icons that are used to mark locations of interest.

Well, Aram Bartholl, a 34 year old artist from Bremen, decided recently to build a real-life version of this icon and erect it in Berlin.

The size of the real-life marker corresponded exactly to the size of a web icon at max zoom factor.

For more info see Aram's webpage: "Map" project, and view the video on YouTube.

somehow quite a German thing to do IMO (and I mean that in a positive way)

Erecting one of those markers is actually quite an amusing thing to do. It was the scaling of the marker to the exact size that is just a bit too German.

Shouldn't it be at more of an angle so it can be seen from above correctly?

As a geographer interested in cybercartography, I'm fascinated. Especially by the scaling.

it would be funnier if he put a pizza at the base of the marker (since that was the object of his google search).

Maybe we should gather there for a group photo.

V. cute

Hey - Anybody know if this is still up? Since I'm an avid Geocacher (and we use google earth for everything) this would be a funny (and too good to be true) addition to a geocaching profile.

~Rose

This is all a huge patethic joke.I think its silly...artist my arse

I think the amazing thing is that we can get access to a map that as detailed as google maps anytime we want, anywhere, for free.

Google maps are shit. They've just taken the imagery from Google Earth, traced out the streets (most of them anyway, they've missed quite a lot) and then (allegedly) stolen the street names from another mapping company. There's no detail on their maps - no building names, no landmarks; just street outlines and their names. It doesn't even mark the Brandenburg Gate or the Reichstag!

The best maps are Hot Maps, although they don't yet cover the whole of Germany unfortunately. Nor is their Berlin map as good as for Munich, for example; the latter one is fully scrollable and with a good search function.

See also an earlier rant by me on this subject.

On the other hand they do include at least one Berlin U-Bahn station which no-one else knows about...

er...yeh right, kid.

I dont think you can compare as you have pointed out that the service is incomplete and quite poor.

then again who is this little firm hot maps as compared to Google and Sun Micro Systems? many imitators, only one original.

"Original"? Google have been making maps for a grand total of about three years. I can only repeat myself; how can you have a map of Berlin that doesn't mark the Brandenburg Gate or the Reichstag? It is also still customary to actually survey a town before producing a map of the area, as opposed to getting some sixth formers in California to trace lines off a satellite image for their school project.

Google doesn't do the mapping itself; that's why it says "Kartendaten © 2007 TeleAtlas" at the bottom.

For Berlin I find www.stadtplandienst.de pretty reliable; www.goyellow.de is also quite good.

OT: is someone editing these posts? The quote I included in my last post has become mysteriously shorter.

I don't worry about that too much, since I can see them both on the satellite pictures.

Heh. They also have U Alexanderplatz at the wrong end of the station. I was going to celebrate the fact that they show the stations (although showing the lines would be even more useful), but they seem to stop at the Ring. I tried to follow the S7 out to Potsdam and had to fill in the stations myself from memory. Which was kind of fun.

I usually just put the address into the search form at http://www.s-bahn-berlin.de/fahrplanauskun...outenplaner.htm

google earth is amazingly great, but for me, its no more than entertainment. For germany, i use stadtplandienst, the older version (more reliable and is not as slow as their beta dynamic version).

although German maps seem a bit confusing and disorganized, once you can adjust to them, they are quite easy to read and orientate.

i like to use google maps to look at the distances between places, the get directions things. just helps me get a grasp of where everything is.

While we're on the topic of Google maps, I wish Google Mars would add a distance scale already!