It's a big old world out there, with lots of things to do, amazing things to see, and interesting people to discover. Hm, kinda seems like a lot of effort though. Wouldn't it be easier to just stay in the comfort of your own home and seek out those natural (and not-so-natural) wonders on your computer instead? That's exactly what search engine giants/possible Skynet Google thought too when they sent a bunch of satellites into the stratosphere and a bunch of people with camera-enabled cars across the world to document all four corners of the globe. Not only can we explore the entirety of our planet - well, almost - just by opening a browser, we're also given some unique perspectives we'd never manage on our own. Google Earth's bird's eye view lets us literally see the world from a different angle than we'd ever get to ourselves (at least until they get on with jet packs, which we hear is their next project after fiber optic broadband for all) and the images taken by Street View are often perfectly timed with....interesting sights. As rich and interesting as our dear planet Earth is, it's even more interesting when you see some of the weird and wonderful stuff that's hidden through some billionaire website's documentation of it. Here are just twenty amazing secrets hidden throughout Google Maps - with the latitude and longitude so you can track them down yourself!
20. Pigeon Date
Since the ubiquitous Google Maps cars, with their rather conspicuous cameras atop them, have become recognisable to the public at large, so have people began to put together pranks that will live on in infamy on Street View. If you'll direct your browser to the coordinates 35.670685, 139.599152 you will found one such group of jokers in Tokyo, who took it upon themselves to line the streets whilst wearing some frankly terrifying pigeon masks. How did they manage to procure so many pigeon masks? And where from? The answer, we think, may lie in the fact that they're a bunch of pretentious art students from the nearby Musashino Art University. Or it's a weird sex thing. Cos, y'know, Japan.
Tom Baker is the Comics Editor at WhatCulture! He's heard all the Doctor Who jokes, but not many about Randall and Hopkirk. He also blogs at http://communibearsilostate.wordpress.com/
