[HN Gopher] Easter eggs on Swiss maps (2021)
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Easter eggs on Swiss maps (2021)
Author : Brajeshwar
Score : 178 points
Date : 2024-02-27 12:21 UTC (10 hours ago)
(HTM) web link (bigthink.com)
(TXT) w3m dump (bigthink.com)
| tuyiown wrote:
| Looks like a safe (and fun) way to introduce fictitious entries
| [1] while hinting the careful map reader that there's something
| fishy on the map. Wrong map data on maps can be dangerous after
| all, especially in a landscape like the alps.
|
| [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fictitious_entry#Maps
| hashmal wrote:
| Things like this are actually done for very valid reasons, but
| these easter eggs are a really neat way to do it.
|
| The reason? making an accurate map from a territory is (or used
| to be) difficult and takes time. Introducing fictional stuff in a
| map is a way to:
|
| - figure out which of your cartographer competitors are copying
| you
|
| - bring the case to court (factual data isn't protected by
| copyright, fictional data is).
|
| Even Google Maps add a few fictional elements, but they're much
| more boring, like adding ghost streets in rural areas.
| lmpdev wrote:
| Tangental:
|
| This is why Golf Courses and Land Art Designs are
| uncopyrightable but media created in the process of their
| development are
| mtmail wrote:
| Yes, usually boring. OpenStreetMap collected some examples
| https://wiki.openstreetmap.org/wiki/Copyright_Easter_Eggs#Ex...
| twothamendment wrote:
| There is a ghost road I reported on Google and was ignored. It
| wasn't just any road, an impossible road.
|
| It is a straight line from the base of a mountain right to the
| top, all while gaining thousands of feet in elevation. I
| haven't checked it out in person, but I'm familiar with the
| area, and I'd place a large wager that it doesn't.
|
| Anyone who copies this road will have a map that screams "I
| copied Google!"
| SamBam wrote:
| I wonder if Google Maps tags the fictitious streets in its
| metadata somehow, so that it doesn't actually send cars down
| those roads.
| sllabres wrote:
| If they are only short dead end streets they won't be at risk
| sending cars through
| floatrock wrote:
| That's a real phenomenon -- they're typically called Trap
| Streets https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trap_street
| https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/trap-streets-with-no-n...
| -- but that's a bit different from these easter eggs.
|
| You put a drawing of a marmot in a mountainside or turn a
| stream into a naked lady to have a chuckle and get one over
| your boss, not to enforce copyright :)
| kirmerzlikin wrote:
| There's a "Map Men" episode on this: https://youtu.be/DeiATy-
| FfjI
| swores wrote:
| Nice article!
|
| Reminds me of a non-Swiss example that's older than any in the
| article, a British-made map which featured fake contour lines
| depicting an elephant: https://bigthink.com/strange-maps/670-nil-
| how-to-hide-an-ele...
| dfc wrote:
| Original unedited article: https://bigthink.com/strange-
| maps/swiss-maps/
| dang wrote:
| Thanks! We've changed to that from
| https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/swiss-map-secrets above.
| zupatol wrote:
| This joke, that the Germans or the Swiss have no sense of humor,
| I never found it funny. But maybe that's just because I'm Swiss.
| RajuVarghese wrote:
| Not only is it not funny, it isn't true at all. Disclosure: I
| am Swiss too, albeit a naturalized one.
| duncan_idaho wrote:
| Like joining a huge HOA, no?
| shermantanktop wrote:
| I'm sure a Swiss person will be along shortly to inform you
| how that is an inaccurate comparison, and furthermore,
| Switzerland is better than an HOA for several reasons,
| firstly the trains, secondly the efficient civil service,
| thirdly...
| PetitPrince wrote:
| For reals though: at least in the French side I feel that
| there's a decent comedy scene, notably with the Montreux
| Comedy Festival. Two of my favorite humorists (Marina
| Rollman and Thomas Wiesel) got nicked for a time as
| panelists for some well known French radios (can't argue
| with the bigger exposure).
| h0h0h0h0111 wrote:
| I went to see a recent swiss comedy film - "Bon schuur
| Ticino" - and it was hilarious. Granted, a lot of the
| humour might go over the heads of people who haven't
| lived in Switzerland, but there's definitely comedy
| pif wrote:
| @PetitPrince: the French part is on the civilised side of
| the Rostigraben. You can't extrapolate from there to the
| rest of Switzerland.
| Rochus wrote:
| From https://www.amazon.de/Lexikon-St%C3%A4dtebeschimpfungen-
| Bosh...:
|
| " _Zurich ist doppelt so gross wie der Wiener
| Zentralfriedhof, aber nur halb so lustig._ "
|
| (translated: " _Zurich is twice the size of Vienna 's Central
| Cemetery, but only half as much fun._")
| Kenji wrote:
| Swiss people are extremely humorous, at least if you don't do
| laundry 1 minute past your allowed slot. Light-hearted fun is
| something that is taken very seriously around here.
| Phemist wrote:
| For us Dutch people it is obvious why they would add an in-joke
| like an airplane at an airport near a town called "Kloten". Feels
| obligatory and rather mild really.
| pimlottc wrote:
| Can you explain the joke for non-Dutch speakers?
| cjfd wrote:
| In Dutch the word 'kloten' means testicles. The word has some
| connotations too: it can be used when something unpleasant
| happened, written as 'klote!' in that case. In English one
| would say 'shit!' in that case. 'kloten' can also be a verb
| for doing something in an unskillful way.
| jollyllama wrote:
| The naked lady of Kunten, from the original article, would
| appear to be as obvious a joke in English.
| barbazoo wrote:
| Only if you ignore the pronunciation of the Umlaut.
| spdustin wrote:
| In English, "balls!" is also used as a frustrated
| interjection.
| Phemist wrote:
| Doing something in an unskillful way, but by accident as
| well as purposefully (so - messing around). In this case I
| was hinting towards the latter meaning.
| ben_w wrote:
| There's quite a few real places in Switzerland that sound
| equally salacious to an English speaker. For example, I've
| cycled through Frick:
| https://www.google.com/maps/place/5070+Frick,+Switzerland/@4...
| hubraumhugo wrote:
| btw, the Swiss Federal Office of Topography (Swisstopo) has lots
| of cool open geo data: https://www.swisstopo.admin.ch/en/maps
| lxgr wrote:
| Nice! Is this open as in free for private users, or actually
| open data? If so, I wonder if this has been imported into OSM.
| lukasgraf wrote:
| It's actually open data:
| https://shop.swisstopo.admin.ch/en/free-geodata
| > New conditions of use apply to swisstopo's official
| geodata. > The geodata may be used free of charge, in
| particular also for commercial purposes. > Reference to
| the source when publishing the data is the only condition.
| > Authorizations and licenses are therefore no longer
| required.
|
| This is based on a change in federal law that happened on 1
| March 2021.
|
| One of the (IMHO) most interesting datasets is the extremely
| detailed digital elevation model / DSM (swissSURFACE3D):
|
| https://www.swisstopo.admin.ch/en/height-model-
| swisssurface3...
|
| Lidar scanned terrain model, with a grid size of 0.5m and
| vertical resolution of ~10cm. Available as a tiled raster or
| the "raw" classified point cloud (ground, vegetation, water,
| ...).
|
| Raster:
|
| https://www.swisstopo.admin.ch/en/height-model-
| swisssurface3...
|
| Point Cloud:
|
| https://www.swisstopo.admin.ch/en/height-model-
| swisssurface3...
|
| Demo (Shaded Relief based on that surface model. Those stair
| step patterns are not artifacts, but the natural terracing of
| vineyards):
|
| https://map.geo.admin.ch/?lang=en&topic=ech&bgLayer=ch.swiss.
| ..
| fatcow wrote:
| https://map.geo.admin.ch/
|
| Herewith the map site.
|
| I have to admit, the maps (at any zoom levels) are quite
| beautiful. Much much better than the likes of Apple or Google!
| denysvitali wrote:
| I don't like them - but they're the best you can have when
| you're in the woods.
| kpandit wrote:
| The maps on that website have some very cool features including
| "Journey through time" which allows you to see the maps going
| back to 1864.
| folmar wrote:
| That's not a very high bar.
|
| The style in the same as all pre-Internet paper maps I've seen,
| but with much higher fidelity. So it looks nice to me, but it's
| not the most readable, mostly the names do not stand out in the
| dark green background.
| lukasgraf wrote:
| Fellow map nerds might also enjoy these:
|
| The new "Light Base Map":
|
| https://www.swisstopo.admin.ch/en/web-maps-light-base-map
|
| Demo (Light Base Map):
|
| https://cms.geo.admin.ch/fmc/lbm.html
|
| This is a modernized version of a base map (used to overlay
| topical maps over it) that they have been working on for the
| past few years. Available as vector tile. It's very clean and
| crisp, and IMHO _much_ more readable than e.g. the Google Maps
| style, or OSM.
|
| ---
|
| Highly customizable 3D map viewer (under development).
| Performance is a bit choppy, and navigation feels somewhat
| clunky. But you can overlay _any_ of the hundreds of topical
| maps (pick from geocatalog menu, or search via search bar).
|
| Example with hiking trails overlay:
| https://test.map.geo.admin.ch/#/map?lang=en&sr=3857¢er=8...
| dang wrote:
| Related:
|
| _Cartographers Have Been Hiding Covert Illustrations Inside
| Swiss Official Maps_ -
| https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=22407413 - Feb 2020 (1
| comment)
| ucarion wrote:
| The "spider" on the Eiger might be a reference to the feature of
| the same name on the Eiger's north face?
|
| https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/e8/Eiger_no...
| fl0ki wrote:
| This being HN, I thought this was going to be about SwissTable.
|
| I'm going to go touch grass now.
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(page generated 2024-02-27 23:01 UTC)