One of the newest entrants into the street-level imagery field is the Chinese search engine Soso, which gives us a first-hand look at the portrait of Mao Zedong that hangs above Tiananmen Gate.

In addition to covering major cities such as Beijing, Shanghai, Shenzhen, and Hainan, Soso gives viewers a rare look into the steppes, deserts, and mountains of Qinghai and Tibet; for example, this breathtaking mountain lake in the Himalayan foothills.

The Tibetan capital of Lhasa was captured on a busy market day, where we can see numerous statues of Buddha for sale in this stall (and numerous marketgoers in protective surgical masks).

Interfax is a Belarusian site that has fairly extensive street-level imagery in the cities of Minsk and Hrodna. It’s not especially high-resolution, but we do get fantastic shots of places such as the main intersection in Minsk – yes, even the largely advert-free capital has a McDonald’s – and the palatial-yet-futuristic Drama Theatre of Hrodna.

Offering imagery at an even lower resolution is Greece’s Kapou. For example, here’s a full-size shot of the legendary Panathinaiko Stadium, birthplace of the modern Olympics in 1896. Kind of underwhelming, isn’t it?

By contrast, the Romanian site NORC is loaded with high-res imagery in Eastern and Central Europe. While Google have a fairly decent presence in Romania, one place they have yet to visit is the Danube River. NORC not only did that, it did so by mounting its camera on a boat, allowing viewers to travel right down the middle of the Danube, through the forest and swamps of the Danube delta and right into the Black Sea.

Amarillas, the Chilean answer to the Yellow Pages, host what they call Street Diving on their Planos mapping service for the capital of Santiago. Founded in 1541, the city is home to numerous historic buildings, including the Palacio de La Moneda, the seat of the Chilean president.

We end our look at Street View rivals with MapJack, which currently shows high-resolution coverage in the major Thai tourist region of Phuket. Not only are the roadways covered, but beaches as well (sometimes in the same shot).

ED: Remember what we said in Part 1 about Google uploading new Polish imagery between the time this article was submitted last week and now? Yup, they released imagery for Thailand that day as well. Fortunately for MapJack, as you’ll see below, they’ve still got imagery in places Google haven’t reached yet. It should also be said that MapJack’s imagery is much sunnier.

At Phang Nga Bay, MapJack even takes you right onto the beach, where there doesn’t seem to be a soul in sight – a rather relaxing way to end our tour (preferably lying on a deck chair with a stiff beverage in hand).

Locations: Belarus, Chile, China, Greece, Romania, Thailand / Categories: Buildings, Crowds, Monuments, Natural Landmarks, Stadiums and Sport, Street Views

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Whether they’re big or small, year-round or just for a weekend, carnivals and fairs draw in people of all ages. Some fairs are positively massive, such as the Canadian National Exhibition in Toronto, which takes place every August.

Many carnivals are small, travelling affairs, setting up in local parking lots or neighborhood parks for a two or three-day shot before moving on. Put it in a really small town, and it can shut whole parts of a town down for a day or two, as we see here in remote Snow Lake, Manitoba, where the main street has been completely taken over by the fair.

Carnival attractions are a popular feature along tourist boardwalks, such as the Santa Monica Pier in California. The Street View trike made its way down the pier to catch many of the sights of Pacific Park, the oceanfront amusement park located right on the pier.

Here, we get a great close-up look at some classic carny games like the ring toss, balloons and darts and the ever-infamous milk bottles. Here are some tips for you marks out there: the rings don’t fit the bottles, the balloons are underinflated, the darts are dull, and one of the bottles is often weighted down. Ha, ha, we’ve ruined the carnival industry forever!¹

A good carnival is built around rides. Of course, the ferris wheel and the bumper cars are standard attractions, like the ones at this beachfront resort in Eforie Nord, Romania, which looks pretty solid.

But then there are the sketchier carnivals, where the rusty rides may be covered in knock-off Disney and Looney Tunes characters, or showing far too much rust, or just look underwhelming. Take, for example, the world’s lamest karting track. Or this unenclosed spin-‘til-you-vomit ride. Or this delightfully rickety dragon boat. Alto, indeed.

Alas, all good things must come to end, and eventually after years of use and abuse every carnival ride is sent to the junkpile. Sometimes, they don’t even get that. Just look at this string of old rides left to rot in a Mexico City alleyway.

Oh, Daisy Duck, we feel your pain.

Locations: California, Manitoba, Mexico, New York, Ontario, Romania, Texas / Categories: Crowds, Street Views, Theme Parks

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The countries receiving updated imagery are Denmark, Ireland, Italy, Spain, Netherlands, Norway, Sweden, Romania, South Africa, Taiwan, Japan, the United States, and the United Kingdom.

Additionally, there is brand new coverage of two of Britain’s Crown Dependencies, the Isle of Man, and Jersey.

Peel Castle, Isle of Man

Mont Orgueil, Jersey

Of particular interest in the United States, brand new imagery has been added throughout the San Francisco Bay Area, Los Angeles and San Diego, taking in sights such as the Golden Gate Bridge, Staples Center, and USS Midway which are now shown in stunning high-resolution.

What can you find in the new imagery? Send us your finds via our suggestion form, or on Twitter, and we’ll post a roundup later in the week of your best finds!

Read the full story at the Google Latlong blog.

Locations: Denmark, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Netherlands, North America, Norway, Romania, South Africa, Spain, Sweden, Taiwan, United Kingdom / Categories: Street Views

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Piilani Highway, Hawaii

Hawaii is of course well known for its volcanoes, and Google has done a great job covering the island chain’s roads and capturing some outstanding views. Here on the Piilani Highway on the island of Maui the road parallels the rugged coastline for miles and miles, all while gently riding the slopes of Maui’s ancient volcanoes. The road is ultimately very narrow, and it was closed for two years due to damage caused by the 2006 Hawaii earthquake.

D64, France

In the extreme southeastern corner of France, the D64 snakes through the Southern Alps and gives us some breathtaking views from high up in the mountains. The road is narrow, but that doesn’t stop cyclists and tourists from taking the journey as they are frequently recorded by Google’s cameras.

Going to the Sun Road, Montana

Winding its way up and down through Glacier National Park in Montana, Going to the Sun Road is a favourite among motorcycle riders in the United States. It’s been said that this road has the steepest, sharpest, and maybe even the most beautiful stretches of asphalt anywhere in America, and thanks to Street View, it’s easy to see why it’s so popular. Unfortunately for us, the camera car was using one of the original lower-resolution cameras when it made the journey.

Dalton Highway, Alaska

Alaska Route 11, also known as the Dalton Highway, stretches for 414 miles through some of the most deserted tundra in North America. The road itself was built as a supply road for the Trans-Alaska Pipeline, but today it’s frequently travelled by truckers carrying supplies to and from remote northern Alaska. It’s been featured on numerous television shows like Ice Road Truckers and America’s Toughest Jobs due to its extremely dangerous position relative to the Arctic Ocean, and this road is also one of the most northern voyages made by the Google street view car anywhere in the world.¹

Hakusan Super Rindo Forest Road, Japan

Mt. Hakusan is one of three sacred Japanese mountains, and the Hakusan Super Rindo Forest Road is a sightseeing route through the adjacent alpine nature reserve of Hakusan National Park. What this means for us is we get some stunning scenery to check out as the Google car travelled almost the entire length of the road. There are vertical drop, stunning rock faces, and for most of the journey you can actually ride above the clouds!

Mount Cook Road, New Zealand

Leading motorists to the highest mountain in New Zealand, Mount Cook Road is a stunning reminder that New Zealand is home to some of the most beautiful landscapes in the world. The route takes us along the western edge of Lake Pukaki, then up to the base of Mount Cook itself. The valley around the road was carved out by ancient glaciers, remnants of which can still be seen today.

Transfăgărăşan Highway, Romania

The Transfăgărăşan in Romania has got to be one of the most breathtaking roads anywhere. Packed with hundreds of turns and thousands of metres of elevations, it’s no wonder that the hosts of “Top Gear” named this road “The Greatest Driving Road in the World”. Thanks to this stretch of tarmac, the journey between Transylvania and Wallachia has become the stuff of legend. The landscape is surreal, and the road itself is intense. Well done Romania!

What’s your favourite Street View journey?

Locations: Alaska, France, Hawaii, Japan, Montana, New Zealand, Romania / Categories: Street Views

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We begin in Constanţa, Romania’s second largest city. With a history dating back 2,700 years, Constanţa is renowned for its many historic buildings, such as the amazing waterfront casino.

Further downtown is the imposing Museum of National History:

Of course, many of Romania’s buildings were constructed under communist rule. This means large apartment blocks can be found in most cities, including this oddly-curved mammoth at one of Constanţa’s main intersections.

Not only is Constanţa Romania’s second-largest city, it’s also home to the largest port on the entire Black Sea; the fourth largest in Europe.

Much of the shipping traffic comes through the lock at Agigea, of which Street View brings us a clear view.

The major attractions along this part of the Black Sea however, are the numerous beaches that are flooded with tourists each summer, which is when the Street View camera drove through the resort of Eforie.

In many places, camping on a public beach would be considered an illegal act, but in the southern resort town of 2 Mai, it’s quite the opposite:

Unfortunately, not all the shots of the beach are quite that scenic…

In total, Street View coverage stretches over the southernmost 70 kilometres of the coast, starting from the Bulgarian border at Varna Veche (note the separate lanes at the crossing for EU and non-EU traffic), and ending at a city whose name I can’t quite remember at the moment…

Ah, yes. That was it.

Locations: Romania / Categories: Animals, Buildings, Street Views, Structures

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In the capital of Bucharest, the impressive “Palace of the Parliament” building is officially recognised as being the heaviest building in the world, despite the fact that nobody has so far managed to convince us how such a claim is measured.

In total, eight major cities were added to Street View, but the cameras have been left running as the camera cars made the long drive between cities. Some of the most picturesque sights of Romania can be seen on these connecting roads, such as when the Street View car crosses the Danube.

Seen anything interesting in the new Street View? Then let us know!

Locations: Romania / Categories: Site News, Street Views

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The train has just left neighbouring Romania and is passing through Moldova on its way to Ukraine… but as you may have guessed by now, this train passes through Moldova at the exact point where the three countries meet. If the train had been just a little longer, it could have actually straddled all three countries at the same time!

Elsewhere in Europe, we find the Belgian town of Baarle-Hertog – which is in the Netherlands.

Baarle-Hertog is made up of twenty separate Belgian exclaves in the Netherlands, and three other pieces on the Dutch-Belgian border. Even more confusingly, there are also seven Dutch exclaves within the Belgian exclaves!

The Dutch parts of the town are called Baarle-Nassau, and the border is so complicated that there are some houses that are divided between the two countries. Allegedly there was once a Dutch law which required restaurants to close earlier than those in Belgium, which for some restaurants simply meant that the clients had to move tables to the Belgian side.

Read more about Moldova, Baarle-Hertog and Baarle-Nassau at Wikipedia. BLDG blog also has an excellent article about Baarle-Hertog.

Thanks to Eric Hagerman and Nev Stokes.

Locations: Belgium, Moldova, Netherlands, Romania, Ukraine / Categories: Buildings, Other Vehicles

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Both of these spacecraft are located in farmland outside the Romanian city of Timisoara. Romania is not known as a major UFO hotspot, but to our alien overlords Roswell is probably passé¹.

That said, this isn’t the first sighting of our visitors to Romania: the Romanian UFO Network² have hundreds of blurry pictures of similar looking craft (or clouds).

So, UFO sceptics, do you have another explanation of what we’re seeing here?

Thanks to tomhet4ever, DocMartini & kjfitz.

Locations: Romania / Categories: Spacecraft, Weirdness

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It has taken the top spot in one category though – it’s the world’s heaviest building! Hang on, how on earth do you measure the world’s heaviest building?

South Korea’s Lotte World is not hard to spot, and is officially the world’s largest indoor theme park. So big in fact that a large part of it is outdoors on Magic Island to the South.

Thanks: Kjerstin & The Bobs

Locations: Romania, South Korea / Categories: Buildings, Large Type, Theme Parks

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