Just as Google street view allows you to wander the streets of cities, Google Tube view allows you to explore their underground train networks.

Instead of a car traveling the length and breadth of a city, an army of camera carrying equivalents would explore and record every stairwell, lift, escalator, train platform, passageway, entrance and exit. This means that any visitor to an unfamiliar city with a complex underground train system, could rehearse or even print out images of their anticipated journey in advance.
-- xenzag, Oct 12 2011

very much like Google_20MoleView
the difference being "visitor to the city" attractions vs. "undead" [FlyingToaster, Oct 12 2011]

[+] Please start with London, moving on to Boston. This poor country boy has never been more lost than when trying to navigate these underground warrens, to the great annoyance of his wife.
-- Alterother, Oct 12 2011


I'd like aircon ducting version too. Just in case [+]
-- Fishrat, Oct 12 2011


Wondering what a TV dinner feels like?
-- Alterother, Oct 12 2011


Google's fitting moles with cameras, now?
-- Alterother, Oct 12 2011


Ah, one of the Borgs' little gems. Figures.
-- Alterother, Oct 12 2011


nah, this'un includes elevators and stairs for people to know where they're going, that'un includes pipes and stuff for other people to not know where you're going.
-- FlyingToaster, Oct 12 2011


Yeah, this is actually a useful idea. GoogleMole really only has a practical application for moles.
-- Alterother, Oct 12 2011


+ This could be expanded to cover many publicly accessible locations. For example: malls, hospitals, stadiums, college campuses, parks. From street view, some doors, buildings, and walking paths could be highlighted when you mouse over them, so you click to walk in.
-- scad mientist, Oct 12 2011


Madrid could definitely use it. The interchange stations are rats nests (at least the couple I just used). And I'm including NYC, London, and Boston for comparison (DC and Rome also, but they're both logically laid out in the stations.
-- MechE, Oct 12 2011


We didn't ride the subways when I was in Madrid, but if they're anything like the surface streets... Yikes. I've been to quite a few Olde Worlde cities and I understand that the 2,000-year-accretion school of urban planning can result in some bizarre street plans (Venice, York, etc.), but Madrid has to be one of the most confusing. Fortunately, we had a local to drive us around, not a luxury I've been able to enjoy on other occasions.
-- Alterother, Oct 12 2011


This is not the same idea as "mole" view, which I was well aware of. Tube View is quite specific in its scope, and method of delivery, and offers a very particular solution to a singular problem. I associate mole view with the various tunnels and sewerage pipe systems. Tube View is for travellers, and not moles.
-- xenzag, Oct 12 2011


You forgot the part about how Moleview is utterly useless crap, whereas this idea is valid and serious and would be very useful to millions of people if fully baked. That's a very important distinction in this context.
-- Alterother, Oct 12 2011


// I'd like aircon ducting version too. Just in case //

Better include the Jefferies tubes, as well.

// would be very useful to millions of people //

And one directionally-challenged hilbilly, it would seem ...
-- 8th of 7, Oct 12 2011


//rehearse// How many people (halfbakers excepted), would *rehearse* a subway/underground/metro station in preparation for a trip abroad?

[+] because it would give rise to a new online game. I picture Bolivians competing against Uighurs, in VR, for fastest change from IRT to IND at the Port Authority station. Now, how to justify random bystanders to dodge around?
-- mouseposture, Oct 12 2011


[scad_mientist], I can't find the link now, but Google Maps has done some college football (and probably other sport) stadiums. -- the playing fields at least.

I like this idea [+], and MoleView [+], and a few other like them [+], but they're all MFD magic. Google explicitly wants to do this type of thing, but there is no feasible way to do it on a mass scale. The vehiculo- mechanical technology would be legion (what is an army of camera carrying equivalents?), as would the requests for permission (and keys) to restricted areas in the case of MoleView and others.

For now, the best available options are Urban Exploration photo websites.
-- swimswim, Oct 12 2011


// And one directionally-challenged hilbilly, it would seem ... //

I have a better intuitive sense of direction than any other man alive. Bar none.

Except when I'm in a city.
-- Alterother, Oct 13 2011


//but they're all MFD magic// I disagree. The resources of Google make Google Tube entirely feasible. Many underground systems are shut down at night. A single person could fully document even the largest of one of London's tube stations on any night when it was empty of passengers. Multiply that by ten and the whole operation could be carried out in 26 nights for the entire network.
-- xenzag, Oct 13 2011


The idea is NOT about the tunnels, and I never used the word "tunnels" in the descriptor, so I thought that was clear. It's about the passenger areas only.
-- xenzag, Oct 13 2011


//Wondering what a TV dinner feels like?//

Nice [Alterother]. Incidentally, they announced the fifth film in the series today. I guarantee, and I'm willing to electronically shake on it, there won't be a single line as witty as any in the original masterpiece.
-- theleopard, Oct 13 2011


[xenzag] thank you for that important clarification. On first read, I was definitely left with the impression that the idea was about the tunnels, I think because of the use of the phrase "underground train networks". Now that I know the idea is not about tunnels, I can see its usefulness.
-- tatterdemalion, Oct 13 2011


<considers idea of surreptitiously revising" mole view" to encompass this idea too, thenn suing for plagiarism>
-- 8th of 7, Oct 13 2011


// there won't be a single line as witty as any in the original masterpiece. //

Agreed. But there will be explosions, gunfire, and a loose semblance of a plot, more than enough to captivate my attention for 110min or so.

// <considers idea of surreptitiously revising" mole view" //

It's too late, Borg. My ingenious smear campaign has already done its damage. Concede this one and move on to the next round.
-- Alterother, Oct 13 2011


// move on to the next round //

<caCLICK-SNICK - snickCLUNK ... tinkle tinkle>

Sorted - one up the spout. Now, don't do anything unsporting, like ducking ...

Anyone see where that spent casing went ?
-- 8th of 7, Oct 13 2011


I think it landed over in 'product: firearm: loose brass' category.
-- Alterother, Oct 13 2011


so this is about tunnels then ?
-- FlyingToaster, Oct 13 2011


I'm sorry, the Borg and I are at each other again. Apparently there are several Halfbakers who didn't get the memo, so don't feel bad.
-- Alterother, Oct 13 2011


eh ? no, I was just teasing 21Q... might want to call it Google Subway View.
-- FlyingToaster, Oct 13 2011


Oh, I thought you meant the devolution of the annos into a series of petty insults and idle threats.
-- Alterother, Oct 13 2011



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