mapsof-light

[mapsof-light]

Google Maps #1

Hi!! This blog is going to be a large and rambling stream of thoughts I have about basically whatever interests me. Today: things that I thought were cool on google maps.

I love just placing myself in random areas on street view and exploring, its like a cowardly form of travel. In some ways its a seperation of a place and the people who live there, this sounds lame but it lets me see weird things from a perspective I normally wouldn't.

While writing this and while exploring I have been listening to:

Nintendo System Music. A nice ambient spacey vibe for the weird liminal experience that is google maps exploration.

Landmark 1

I placed myself in a random street in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada. I'm not sure why I chose this city. The USA has always been vast and dreamy to a Brit like me but the recent political changes have drawn my yearning further north. This house has an incredibly nice height, the garage sits lower that the door but not by a whole floor. I especially love the big windows that break up that quiet grey wood. I would definitely live here with a tortoiseshell cat.

Landmark 2

This view of the city is SO gorgeous, the street view imagery is from november 2022 and that crisp autumn air is so visable here. Where I'm from we dont have these vast industrial bridges. I love how the train in the foreground pairs with it, there's so much energy in this view. So far I am loving this city as a tourist.

Landmark 3

This flower shop looks adorable, the red and white looks so warm and inviting. Going back through the previous snapshots it was sweet seeing the sign flip from 75 years to 85 years. I really hope they make it to 100 years and throw a big flower party or whatever florists do to celebrate. Theres just something so hearty about this part of the world to me, maybe its just because any vibrant, North American foliage reminds me of Night in the Woods.

Landmark 4

This may be too esoteric for even this blog but this view was breathtaking to me. The clouds have a really tangible depth to them, something about the light blue and purple hues is very appealing. I grew up around hills and miss them a lot now that I live somewhere flat, theres something about a landscape with levels, a scale, that calls to me. This hill is awesome. The way the road disappears into the water is 10/10. I want to drive this road and never reach the part where the view is revealed.

Landmark 5

This bench was really confusing to me, I see a lot of confusing benches. Why would it face away from the docks and water. Maybe if you live somewhere industrial like Halifax there isn't much appeal in watching the docks and seeing the park instead is nicer? We have massive docks in the UK but I' grow up inland I'm a filthy land lubber so I never saw them much. Theres something about vast industrial machinery like these that is awe inspiring. The massive redwoods in California and a big dockyards bring about similar feelings of smallness. We have replaced the stars with distant machines.

Thank you for exploring Halifax with me. I do not feel like I understand this city at all. I have no grasp about its culture or people. That's sort of the point of this. A place without any history, any language, any life is only half a place. I like empty half places where my brain has to fill in the blanks. Maybe Halifax is nice, maybe it isn't. but it's certainly beautiful and serene when frozen in time.

-Your faithful Map of Light