Olympic Torch Relay on Google Maps

Google released their Olympic Torch Relay Map last week. I didn't post on it then because I thought it wasn't much use as an actual map. For example, if you zoom in on any of the cities involved there is no actual route of the relay through the city. Therefore if you want to know where to go to watch the torch relay the map isn't much help.

In London this was also a problem with the official maps released by the Olympics organisation. Here is the official map:



The route through London actually passed about a mile from my house. But because of the lack of detail in the map it was impossible to know which roads the torch was going to travel. I therefore missed the relay. My guess is that this was done on purpose to keep the protests down to a minimum. This might be why the Google Map doesn't have detailed routes of the relay - because the Olympics organisation are keeping it as secret as possible.

However I am posting on the Chinese version of the Google Olympic Torch Relay Map today because they have included video reports of the relay in their version of the Google Map.



The video content comes from CCTV which is a state run broadcaster in China. Unsurprisingly the videos don't seem to show the protests against the Chinese. However as a map I think Google China have made a big improvement on the work of their American counterparts.

Coincidently the 2012 Olympics are also occurring about a mile from my house. I am now worried that they will try and hide the 2012 games from me as well.

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