I was looking at the “street level” view of my hometown the other day and an idea that has been stewing in my mind for many years was brought to the forefront again.
Here’s the facts as I see them:
1. Google has street level map data of pretty much every location in America.
2. Google has street level photos of most municipalities in America, growing every day.
3. Topographical data for every location in the world is available online.
4. Traffic data can be easily tracked and displayed online with at least cursory accuracy.
5. Demographic data for Law enforcement agencies can be easily tracked and displayed (ie. number of state troopers in a given county).
6. Demographic data for every municipality in America is available on Google (ie. Walmart is at 123 Anystreet, Wompwoller MI).
Okay, so why couldn’t (and more importantly, why hasn’t?) some enterprising young programmer devise a racing game that pulls map data from Google?
You could pull the map data, overlay it with topo to get the general lay of the land, and use generic images to hold the place of either “a business” or “a house” along the roads. Then, you populate the game with roughly the same congestion and law enforcement ratio of the area.
Imagine a racing game where you can scream through the alleys of your own home town.
Hey Internet! Get on this, ASAP!
Gentlemanbeggar 