The virtual Trans-Siberian Railway

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All aboard Google Maps and the Russian Railways’ virtual version of the Trans-Siberian Railway and experience the 150 hour, 9,000km journey from Moscow to Vladivostok.

The new portal from Google Russia enables visitors to gaze uninterrupted through a window on the mammoth journey from Moscow to Vladivostok in real time. It’s the result of some 30 hours of filming by two crews that travelled the length of the line (filming only in daylight).

The film is geo-tagged, so the exact route is plotted alongside the YouTube footage in Google Maps. Alternatively, you can move the train’s position along the route yourself if it all gets too monotonous.

And no journey is complete without an accompanying soundtrack: choose from the “rumble of wheels” to Russian radio, to an audio book of Tolstoy’s War and Peace (delivered in Russian).

Along with Penguin books We Tell Stories site and The Editor’s streetview site it’s another example of Google Maps enabling a great idea.

via CR

Days with my father - Phil Toledano

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Ian Tait, in his blog Crackunit, asks the question of whether the web is an emotional medium - even going so far as to ask the question "Ever seen a website that made you cry?'. 

When thinking about this Phil Toledano's 'Days with my father' immediately came to mind. One of the few sites that has managed to bring me to tears.

At the end of the day it really comes down to content - this site is so personal and heart felt that it's hard not to have an emotional response.