# Finding My Past with Google Maps



## SifuPhil (Dec 1, 2013)

Being in a mood to waste time today I fired up Google Maps and looked around my old stomping grounds. 

What a trip!



Everything seems smaller than it did when I was a kid - the sidewalks are narrower, the hills flatter and, surprisingly, more trees are in evidence than I remember.

I looked at my old house, and the bare rock wall in the front of our property - the one that was about 12' high but seemed like Mt. Everest as a kid - is now completely covered in some kind of crawling ivy. The Japanese maple is still in the front yard, at least. 

The park that was totally paved and that we injured ourselves playing on is now a semi-wooded-and-sodded picture of tranquility. 

My grandparent's / aunt's / uncle's house looks totally different - someone tore down the garage, closed off the side door and covered the whole shebang in cheap vinyl siding, whereas in my youth it was covered in cheap asphalt shingles. 

The old candy-and-soda store we used to spend our nickles in is now a "family restaurant", which is quite a trick because that store is barely wide enough for a broad-shouldered guy to walk through without turning sideways. 

The spot at the bottom of Death Hill where I flew over the guardrail on my bike now sports a large house - no more guardrail. 

My high-school is a police station and the grand old public library is a vacant lot.


I shouldn't have gone back ...


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## JustBonee (Dec 1, 2013)

SifuPhil said:


> I shouldn't have gone back ...



It's just a sad fact for all of us,  that what you envision in your mind's eye is not going to be the reality you will be faced with in revisiting your past.  Nothing is ever as 'whatever' it was long ago.  
I've had a couple of those moments in time, and all they do is make you feel sad for what was. ..Hate that, but it's gone.:crushed:


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## Anne (Dec 1, 2013)

Strange; a few years ago I'd looked up the name of the town I grew up in and had no problem.  Now I had to go to the nearest town and make my way to the next...the house we grew up in is long gone, and another in it's place; but I knew that before.  Saved a screenshot of that, but when I tried to save another, I closed it out by accident.
Grrrrr; should've known to save the address, but didn't....typed in the coordinates, but that didn't work.   Oh well, I enjoy these little trips down memory lane occasionally.   Amazing how some things have changed; yet others just the same.  I think our little burg had around 50 people, tops.  No housing developments or 
anything, and the countryside looks pretty much the same.


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## Pappy (Dec 1, 2013)

Great thread, Phil. Now you got me reminiscing. I spent a good part of my young life in the country. First house on right was my uncles place, next my grandparents, our house next and another uncle on left. Note all the woods around the house. Spent many hours roaming these woods.Our house was 75 years old when we had it. At first, no inside bathroom, a hand pump for water, and a dirt floor in cellar.
It doesn't show the steepness of the hill. It was downhill all the way into town. Can't see the 4th house but ours was surrounded by trees.


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## JustBonee (Dec 1, 2013)

Also, Maplandia.com  gives good sightseeing tours for going down memory lane. ..

The old two-lane country roads in the small town where I grew up in Ohio have all become major roads.  It's interesting to take the map and follow it for miles around the area and look at the build-up and all the changes.  The town itself is totally unrecognizable to me, but that is because I haven't been back in many years.  It could be Anywhere USA.


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## Diwundrin (Dec 1, 2013)

I've done the nostalgia trail too.  Some places I found amazingly the same, some changed, and some gone in spectacular fashion. 

I drove out to see where an Uncle had lived in the Mine's Deputy house, provided by the Company. It was a reasonably nice house on a slight rise. Had a verandah across the back with a nice view of the big dam behind it and a few hills and trees beyond that. The main mine buildings were around 200 metres away at the side and the land between was all kept mowed and landscaped.  I always enjoyed staying there.

I did wonder as I approached if I could even get close as mining companies get very anal about who gets on their property these days but I needn't have worried.

As I topped the hill where the side road to the house started the world ended. The road wasn't there any more.  
Nothing was there any more. Just an exceedingly big hole.  I knew they'd switched from conventional underground to longwall mining, but not that they'd finally decided to open-cut mine the lease.  Everything, and I mean everything was just goooorn.  The road, the house, the dam, the hills, even the minehead buildings.  Just a massive hole there now.   siiiiigh.

But the house that was old back in the 40s where the grans lived in town is still there!  .. and largely unchanged except for some minor tarting up. Kind of made up for the big hole. 



I have a photo file of all the places I lived in or loved in the past taken from Google Earth and screen saved from 'Street view'.  It's a great toy.
(I didn't keep a pic of the hole though.)


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## Fern (Dec 1, 2013)

Google Earth is fantastic, I can see where my penpals live & vice versa.


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## Anne (Dec 1, 2013)

Well, I got back to the old town and followed the Great River Road (MN) out of town, trying to find the places we rode our bikes way back when.  Tried to find the bridge that crossed my beloved Mississippi, and now I'm lost.      Apparently, they blacktopped the one road, and I should have turned right, but went straight.

DH remembers the routes better than I, and says I'll end up in the next town, so we'll see if he's right.


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## Jillaroo (Dec 1, 2013)

_I agree with Phil, a few years back i travelled to my childhood home to have a look as i hadn't seen it since 1978, as soon as i got onto the main road that takes me up to my street i couldn't believe how small the road was, barely wide enough for two cars and once i reached my street which io always remembered as fairly wide was virtually the size of a goat trail, the house was there but big changes had been done to it from a single storey to a double storey.
              It's funny how we remember everything as rather large when younger, and then you go back and discover it's quite small._:bowknot:


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## SifuPhil (Dec 1, 2013)

Jillaroo said:


> _It's funny how we remember everything as rather large when younger, and then you go back and discover it's quite small._:bowknot:



That's why I close my eyes when I'm changing my clothes ...:distress:

It's funny, because my philosophy teachers always taught me that you cannot go back. I took it as a challenge, and it wasn't until I actually succeeded in "going back" that I learned they were speaking in a figurative sense. I thought they were just daring me to drive past my old house ...

So all these years I've believed and taught my students that you CAN go back but only to learn, and you shouldn't spend too much time there as what was once there is now pretty much changed if not totally vanished. 

My house is still there ...



... but somehow it just doesn't look the way I remembered it ...


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## grannyjo (Dec 1, 2013)

I grew up in inner Sydney.  At first we lived in what was previously a waterfront mansion - divided into flats during WW2.  We later moved to a terrace house in Ultimo.  After that we move to a rather new subdivison called Yagoona.  I've looked back onto all of the places where I lived as a child.  The Mansion is now a highly developed area with multiple dwellings - all waterfront and very expensive.  The terrace house is now a multi unit development too - also very expensive because it is so close to the city.  The bigger lot of land where we kept chooks at Yagoona is now a multi villa development.  I still have my memories though.  Each stage was a step forward - at least for us.  Just wish I had the money that each step has provided.


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## Diwundrin (Dec 1, 2013)

I grew up in Concord. "Inner Western" Sydney.   We had the council tip 2 streets behind, the Homebush Cattle yards and Union Carbide site about 2kms West, and the Mortlake Gas Works and Bushell's coffee factory 1km East and S.East.  You could always tell the wind direction by the smell.

 My Mum was always adamant though to inform strangers that there was a full block between 'us' in Concord, and the 'poorer' Mortlake neighbourhood.  Well times have sure changed and you can't buy a flat for under a $mill on that old Gas Works site these days. The Olympic Stadium is on the cattle yards and I have no idea if they ever detoxed the U/Carbide site for multi $$$ Waterfront development but I'd bet they'll be workin' hard on it.  Bet Mum would be telling them we were really close to being in Mortlake now too.


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## SifuPhil (Dec 2, 2013)

Great stories, folks - thank you!

I never quite understood the difference between Google Maps and Google Earth, except that in Earth you can "fly".


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## SifuPhil (Dec 2, 2013)

Shipper said:


> I understand Google earth from satellites, but who takes these ground views? My house shows an RV that I owned about six months ago, for about four months; so the pictures must have been taken in the last ten months. Someone running around taking pictures of all the neighborhoods in the world? Must be more technology that I'm woefully unaware exists. Can the NSA actually watch your front door?



They actually have a Googlemobile!



They hire folks to basically just drive up and down streets while the computer-controlled cameras take 360-degree pictures. That's why in the satellite view of my neighborhood, the spot where I went over the guardrail on my bike looks to be under construction, while in the street view there are two new houses in the same spot.

They are also working on driver-less cars, which they might use for the same purposes. Now, three states - Nevada, California and Florida - have passed laws that allow driver-less vehicles.

Scary, huh? 

Not sure about the NSA's tech abilities (who amongst us is?), but it's been rumored that some of their satellite gear can see details down to 6" ...


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## Anne (Dec 2, 2013)

I want a job driving the googlemobile!!!!   Can you imagine how much fun that would be??!!


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## TICA (Dec 2, 2013)

They have done something similar in all of the major museums and art galleries of the world.   You can walk around just like you were actually there.  Amazing.


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## SifuPhil (Dec 2, 2013)

Anne said:


> I want a job driving the googlemobile!!!!   Can you imagine how much fun that would be??!!



You get to see some interesting sites as well ... 



			
				TICA said:
			
		

> They have done something similar in all of the major museums and art  galleries of the world.   You can walk around just like you were  actually there.  Amazing.



Oddly enough, my favorite museum in the world, the American Museum of Natural History in NYC, does NOT have a virtual tour. Instead they have this dinky interactive floor-plan.

Maybe I should apply for a job with them as a virtual map-maker ... now THAT would be a cool job!


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## That Guy (Dec 2, 2013)




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## Anne (Dec 2, 2013)

SifuPhil said:


> You get to see some interesting sites as well ...




On second thought.......


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## JustBonee (Dec 2, 2013)

Is that for real?  .. Can't imagine that set-up driving around the neighborhood and not seeing it! ..


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## JustBonee (Dec 2, 2013)

SifuPhil said:


> They are also working on driver-less cars, which they might use for the same purposes. Now, three states - Nevada, California and Florida - have passed laws that allow driver-less vehicles.
> 
> Scary, huh?



Probably no scarer than the drivers who drive the wrong direction on the freeway, and the ones who don't know a red light from a green light ..


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## SifuPhil (Dec 2, 2013)

Boo's Mom said:


> Is that for real?  .. Can't imagine that set-up driving around the neighborhood and not seeing it! ..



They only go past your house when you're sleeping, then they Photoshop-in the daylight.

But seriously, folks ... I've seen several variations of the camera set-up - this one seems a bit tall, but I'm pretty sure it's for real.



Boo's Mom said:


> Probably no scarer than the drivers who drive the wrong direction on the freeway, and the ones who don't know a red light from a green light ..



Very true. And the ones that have never had a license in their life but have been driving for 30 years ... actually, on second thought, just having a license is no guarantee of ability.


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## Diwundrin (Dec 2, 2013)

> They hire folks to basically just drive up and down streets while the  computer-controlled cameras take 360-degree pictures. That's why in the  satellite view of my neighborhood, the spot where I went over the  guardrail on my bike looks to be under construction, while in the street  view there are two new houses in the same spot.



The reverse is the case here.  The 'Street View' is well over 3 years out of date and still shows this as a vacant block, but satellite view shows this house and the ones built around 6 months ago.


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## SifuPhil (Dec 2, 2013)

Diwundrin said:


> The reverse is the case here.  The 'Street View' is well over 3 years out of date and still shows this as a vacant block, but satellite view shows this house and the ones built around 6 months ago.



Hmph ... that's odd. Maybe you're more in the flight-path of the satellite than I am (was) ... or, conversely, that StreetView likes to hang out in my home town.


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## Jillaroo (Dec 2, 2013)

Diwundrin said:


> The reverse is the case here.  The 'Street View' is well over 3 years out of date and still shows this as a vacant block, but satellite view shows this house and the ones built around 6 months ago.



I just had a look on another one and you are there :wow::woohoo1:  it's not a coloured one unless you know more than me of how to operate it

http://showmystreet.com/


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## Pinky (Apr 11, 2016)

I wish Google street view was around while my first three childhood homes in Saskatchewan, Alberta and Vancouver, were still standing, though I did have opportunity to see the third one before it was demolished. Don't know why I didn't take a photo of it. The old neighbourhood in Vancouver, had not changed a lot .. obviously, not a prime real estate area (then, or now). The old frame houses were built on steep inclines with long staircases I always envisioned the neighbours falling down, and the rotting wooden paint-peeled fences were still abundant. It made me sad to see. 

I've got a Google photo of the house I spent my high school youth growing up in, and occasionally look at our 'haunted' house in Niagara Falls (story in Paranormal thread). It's fun also checking out the homes of relatives back in Australia. I feel like a voyeur sometimes layful:


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## jujube (Apr 11, 2016)

They have "googletrikes", too, to go where the cars can't go.  I was in Gasworks Park in Seattle once and the Google trike was tooling around on the sidewalks taking pictures.  I tried like the dickens to get in the picture, but I don't seem to be in any of the angles.  Bummer.....my one chance at stardom.


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## Kitties (Apr 11, 2016)

I've done the same thing. Looked at the last house my parents owned in Santa Cruz, Ca (on one of those real estate sites) and found out that the people who bought it from them never sold it. 1984, 115,000. I asked my mother once what they sold it for and she stated she couldn't remember exactly. Now I know. They let the yard go.

Luckily for me, I have no desire to ever really go back to Santa Cruz.


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## Ameriscot (Apr 11, 2016)

I've looked at all the places I've lived and there have been lots!


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## Ken N Tx (Apr 12, 2016)

Ameriscot said:


> I've looked at all the places I've lived and there have been lots!



...I have also used vpike.com....


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## Ameriscot (Apr 12, 2016)

Ken N Tx said:


> View attachment 28492...I have also used vpike.com....



That looks good as well!


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## Manatee (Apr 12, 2016)

My parents bought the house that I grew up in for $3500 in 1933.  My sister found an ad for it for $500,000.  It is a 1929 frame house.


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