WOW!!!!! This is going to TOTALLY BLOW YOUR MIND!! Thanks to replay (see him between me and Antonio HERE ) for telling me about it - there's a GREAT new "virtual" website on the 'net. Really. It'll make you squirm in your seat!

I've spent the last hour virtually/visually "paseando por las calles de Madrid (translation: "strolling through the streets of Madrid) at http://fotos.qdq.com .

You can either simply click on the FLASH Madrid map and start your journey there and click on the directional arrows to see IN PHOTOS every 20 meters or so going forward, backward, looking left or right, turn corners. As you "walk" the map on the right shows your progress. You can also enter an address and actually SEE that address!! Great for checking out the area surrounding a hotel or neighborhood in which you're considering to live, I'd think. WOW! It's SO cool!! Check it out! You'll love it!

And if anyone is worried about using a Dial-up connection to the internet, don't. All the photos shown are about 14-16kb each so it's fast loading too! WOW! SO impressive! I saw my ladyfriend's house and walked through her neighborhood where I always stay when I'm in Madrid! HOW COOL IS THAT?!

Enjoy! Saludos, MadridMan

[ 01-27-2002: Message edited by: MadridMan ]

Wow, that was EXCELLENT!! I want to go back and "visit" all the time now! I couldn't really get my bearings on this visit; I think I need to pull out my map and figure out what's where.

Ten minutes later...I just went wandering down Preciados (it's not quite as fun as shopping there!), through Sol, and off to the Plaza Mayor! I'm sitting on a bench there now!! There are a lot of pigeons, as usual! How COOL!!!

And I just walked by the Prado, too. I think I will check out Cibeles and the Parque next. EXCELLENT!

Thanks for the URL!!

Tara

[ 01-27-2002: Message edited by: MadridMan ]

I can't believe it, I just took my first stroll through Old Madrid! If only the technology could allow us to smell the tapas drifting onto the streets, garlic permeating my nostrils (but I guess then you'd smell the diesel too). Not having visited Madrid yet, (in MAy, MAy, May), one of the first things that struck me was all of the renovating going on. Almost every street had scaffolding or coverings on the building facades. I see a lot of graffiti too which is something I have read about. But it also looks like the type of city I love to wander, full of nooks and crannies in the endless street network. Would I be correct in assuming that these photos were taken in the heat of summer as it looks so hot and not overly busy with traffic and pedestrians? There is also a similar website for Paris - I believe it is the local French Yellow Pages that allow the same vitual stroll. Could one exist for Seville or Barcelona?

Great site MM, thanks for the link!

Dargus
Madrid in May!

Very cool site. The pics were definitely taken during the summer. I just checked out where we went to dinner last night... Maceira on Calle Huertas, 66 and in the picture, the restuarant doesn´t exist...the local is under construction. Maceiras on Huertas just opened up recently...makes sense to me!!! Thanks for sharing MM!

It looks to me like the photos were taken during really quiet times of the day, too, because some of the places I would have expected to be bustling (Sol, the Plaza) were pretty empty. And when could someone stand IN THE MIDDLE of some of those streets, I wonder?

And how do I get a job wandering around taking photos like that?

Oh, cool (I have the photo map in another window, so I am bouncing back and forth)--if you go to that link (above), then type in "mayor," then click "plaza mayor," you end up under the arcade in the plaza--and you can click to continue forward past the shops. Neat! I found the shop where I bought some great yarn for a knitting project.
Tara


Tara

[ 01-27-2002: Message edited by: taravb ]

I agree with everyone, what a useful tool!!! I find it very interesting for various reasons but above all, very helpful, for instance, my ex-bf wants to buy a new house/flat, with this he can see the 'fachadas' of the places beforehand, and everything that surrounds those buildings.

As we say here, 'Replay/Rafael es una maquina'!

HOLY CHORIZO! Replay and MM, Now I will NEVER get anything done at work!!! Thank you!!!

WOW!!!

The man deserves an award.Wonderful!

I found some details about the company that carried out this project:

HISTORY OF SNV
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• From 1994, the concept of an exhaustive city inventory is developed and tested till the end of 1995.
• For that, a whole Paris district is photographed.
• At the end of 1995, SNV is created.
• At the end of 1997, Sopromec Participations comes to support financially SNV.
• At the end of 1999, SNV signs a contract foreseeing the realization of seven new French big cities.
• At the end of 2000, SNV becomes Wanadoo's subsidiary (France Telecom group)
• At the beginnin of 2001: SNV goes abroad by realizing Madrid (Spain)

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Here it is the list of cities that have been already photographed:

Saint-Mandé, Paris, Boulogne-Billancourt, Lyon, Marseille, Toulosse, Nice, Nantes, Lille, Strasbourg, Madrid.

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Details about the "making off" Madrid:

Duration of the project: 6 months
Number of photographers: 20
Number of photographs / day: 350 each
Total number of photographs: 700,000
Total number of streets: 131,000
Updated: yearly!!!

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In the works.... Barcelona!!!

[ 01-29-2002: Message edited by: Antonio ]