Welcome to the brand new Ordnance Survey Sightseeing site!
Wednesday, 1st April 2009 by Alex Turnbull
Today we're embarking on a brand new journey.
After long negotiations with Britain's national mapping agency, we're extremely pleased to announce that from today the website previously known as Google Sightseeing is to become ORDNANCE SURVEY SIGHTSEEING.
Ordnance Survey is one of the world's largest producers of maps, and from now on we'll only be linking to their highly detailed printed maps, and pointing out interesting features represented by a vast array of different icons.
We plan to feature footpaths, cycle paths, topographical sightings, water features and much, much more!
One of the most exciting features we're bringing to you today means that each time you click through to our map, you'll need to decide whether you need to see the OS Route, OS Road, OS Tour, OS Landranger, OS Explorer, OS Explorer Active or OS Landranger Active map! You'll also be able to set the scale of the map at this point, but you won't be able to change your mind again later.
Users of our map page API should be aware that as of today, latitude and longitudes will no longer work in the query string, and all lookups must instead be performed using an OS Grid reference. Additionally, all KML files will henceforth become GML format, and all previous files will cease to work.
Of course, using all this OS map data isn't free, so we'll be expecting all of our readers to chip in some cash to pay for the maps.
We'd like to thank you all for your support over the last four years, and sincerely hope you'll continue with us on the latest leg of our journey towards inevitable Geographic Nirvana.
Update: Due to overwhelming popularity of the new site we've already burned through all our venture capital and "Ordnance Survey Sightseeing Inc." are now bankrupt. The administrators are planning to revert the site to "Google Sightseeing" on April 2nd, 2009.
About the author
Alex has decided that his title will be Senior Vice President of Stuff.
LoL!
Happy April Fools to you, too! 😛
LoL!
What a lovely pinky layout XD
very good. and, yes, O/S are clueless bastards!
Nooooo!
I used to really like your site. I liked looking at the aerial pictures of things which are on Google Maps. I liked looking at the pictures of hilarious stuff like women putting their hands down their trousers on the Google Streetview.
The Ornance Survey site sounds really boring. If I want to look at an OS map, I’ll go to a bookshop.
So consider me an ex-user of your site. Y’all suck.
Fished in!
Or you have been….;)
OMG I ACTUALLY BELIEVED YOU! lol I’m so gullible :$
I see you are looking for financial contributions? Just send me the bank details of googlesightseeing and perhaps your own personal bank details, date of birth and mothers maiden name (just to be on the safe side) and i will transfer some money into your account.
Well, you had me going for all of 20 seconds…..
Do we have to pay to post comments? Oh, and keep the pink! 🙂
Great idea! That’ll be £4.50 please Romanov.
So – this x-ray feature you promised us last year never materialised did it? I bet you must feel pretty foolish now dont you?
It’s ok, we don’t need x-rays, as we’ve already found a couple having sex on Google Street View!
http://twitter.com/gsightseeing/status/1431100943
Haha, good one guys.
Fantastic. I’ll get working on a ‘Top Ten Obscene Images Found In Contour Lines’ post!
Will Julien’s French version become IGN sightseeing ??
Yeah April Fools eh? Then again I’m thinking you Brits came up with OS when the rest of the world uses lat and lon so maybe this isn’t an April fools Day joke!
Wow, this will really help me when Im using the maps, all those squiggly lines coinfuse me :S
If only someone could print all these maps and pictures in a portable book, so I could use them all on my travels! 😛
If you put ‘Ordnance Survey’ in google, you guys already come out on top!
C’mon, you didn’t really believe that, did you?
Incredibly, we now do come first for Ordnance Survey sightseeing though!
Due to overwhelming popularity of the new site we’ve already burned through all our venture capital and “Ordnance Survey Sightseeing Inc.” are now bankrupt. The administrators are planning to revert the site to “Google Sightseeing” on April 2nd, 2009.
Nice cover!!
To be honest, the ‘Geographic Nirvana’ gave it away. I mean, OS maps?