Google Wraps a NYC Subway Train for Google Maps

1. transitguy says:

   April 22, 2009 at 2:56 am

   This is great, it should be done on all NYC subway cars. I would rather have ads on the sides of subway cars, which generate money, then looking at rust, grime and graffiti. Well I can deal with graffiti. Gives me something interesting to look at in the morning.

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2. Caroline McCarthy says:

   November 6, 2008 at 9:06 am

   Yikes. HopStop is probably screwed.

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3. centernetworks says:

   November 6, 2008 at 10:53 am

   they’ve got to keep innovating…

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4. Anonymous says:

   November 6, 2008 at 12:00 pm

   Is it even worth pointing out that those are not AIM guys? Those are the Google Map Streetview dudes… (has this been a “Duh” moment or do you just refer to the Google Map Streetview Dude as “the AIM guy”? Anything that discredits Google is cool in my book, hehehe (I’m not one of those Google KoolAid Drunkards), but in the interest of accuracy and logic (a couple things that kiiiiiinda matter to me personally) i felt it was worth pointing out.)

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5. centernetworks says:

   November 6, 2008 at 12:03 pm

   of course it’s the streetview dude but do people riding the shuttle know that? will more of them think its the aim dude? :)

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6. Anonymous says:

   November 6, 2008 at 12:17 pm

   Indubitably my friend, touche. I suppose this could be looked at as “Branding FAIL” (I know how you love the phrase “FAIL”, *snicker*) by Google regarding the Street Map Dude, no? (Sure he is recognizable in his “normal” state, but when they separate the legs and what not, it DOES become a comatose-ringer (not quite a dead-ringer) for the AIM Buddy. Just to be clear, my earlier comment was not emphasizing that they did not look like the AIM Buddy, but rather that they we’re not actually the AIM Buddy. :)

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7. centernetworks says:

   November 6, 2008 at 12:32 pm

   Why don’t you post your name! One of my mentors would say nearly weekly, "perception equals reality". For the riders of the shuttle, I am willing to bet that 60% wouldn’t know what it is, 35% would think it’s the AIM dude and then 5% would be geeky enough to know it’s the Street Map dude.

   Also important to note that when I stand by the shuttle during rush hours (which is typically the only heavy ridership period) the people are moving as quickly as possible to either get to Penn Station or GCT – they don’t care about a google map ad.

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8. Anonymous says:

   November 6, 2008 at 1:07 pm

   Sorry about Anon… I just stick with Anon here, not to hide the fact the I am Matt, but because I can’t use the name “Matt” (already “taken”). I’ve railed on about this in the past so i’ll spare us both my nonsense this time around… lol… but that’s why I don’t fill in the “Name” field at CN. :( (You personally can see who I am, first name and last, via the legitimate email I leave with each comment, however.) Furthermore, I don’t like people who use a blogger’s comment section as a way to try and promote themselves or their companies so I like to keep my links out of it… so I’m not trying to be stealthy or anything, just trying to keep true to my feelings… I would enter the name “Matt” if i could… but alas… we digress.

   To the point, I’ve never been on a Subway… hell, I’ve never been to NYC for that matter (though the webapp I develop for is NYC based, I telecommute from Wisconsin, Go Silicon Alley!!) … I see the subway crowd scenes in the Movies, etc… us “outsiders” probably just assume that the tube is always packed… hehehe… but you bring up a good point about all this to begin with: who even really cares about these billboards as, amidst a throng, they are hustling and bustling to get from point A to point B? (correct me if I’m wrong here, but the doors are open most of the time the train is stopped to boot, right? that probably devalues the ads as well… as we can see in the “URL” billboard it can practically negate the message completely. If we assume for a moment that there is no crowd, how many seconds worth of closed-door-full-train does one even get to see on any given stop?)

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9. Tamar Weinberg says:

   November 6, 2008 at 6:30 pm

   “via SubChat”

   You’re killing me here.

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