urbanMSP

Mostly main corridors

There’s some new 3D Minneapolis stuff on Google Maps—looks like they caught the Gateway tower just about topped out on their last run through.

Anyone know a way to report the speed limits shown on Google maps while driving. Plenty of the roads now 20 or 25 mph are still marked at 30mph. The other day I was on 35w in south minneapolis and it said the speed limit was 65mph!

Apparently Google Maps directions no longer call it Highway 7, but instead “Theodore Christian Highway” and lots of folks who are lost without a disembodied voice telling them when to turn are confused in the western suburbs.

You need to be a "Google Local Guide" to make suggestions to Google Maps. I am and I've tried, but I've gotten crickets in response.

The Nextdoor post about this is full of bewildered old timers who never knew TH7 was ever named this. Lots of others are also now doing research on who the heck Theodore Christian was and when TH7 was named after him.

And US 10 / 61 in the southeast suburbs is labeled Hiawatha Pioneer Trail / Voyageurs Highway / Alt I-94. This road did until recently have probably the last Hiawatha Pioneer Trail sign in the state.

Similarly, 35E is apparently also known as "Monarch Highway", "34th Infantry (Red Bull) Division Highway" and "Avenue of the Saints".

I'd be curious to know if any of these designations are actually marked anywhere as I've never seen them.

The Avenue of the Saints (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Avenue_of_the_Saints) is marked regularly along its route in Iowa and Missouri, but not in Minnesota.

Interstates tend to have signs at rest areas. Other highways have a placard after towns and major junctions. This is assuming someone other than MnDOT pays for the signs.

Seeing some fresh January/February 2022 Google Street View, around Richfield and Bloomington anyways. Not sure how widespread it is.

Meanwhile, GMaps STILL hasn't updated the aerial imagery around the metro (on standard Maps website, not including Google Earth). Everything is definitely from prior to May 2020 (pre-arson), possibly spring 2019, based on a sampling of development sites that are now long-completed but on GMaps hadn't even begun demolition yet. I wonder what the hold-up is there...they typically have refreshed aerials every two years or so, but the metro area aerial imagery is pushing 3 years.

Are you sure? I'm pretty sure they've got Summer 2021 imagery for most areas in Minneapolis, at least.

Using Google Maps in Chrome on a PC, I don't see any aerial newer than 2019. But I just checked the GMaps app on my phone and everything is much more recent. I wonder why the browser imagery is so old compared to what you get in the app?

I'm seeing the newer imagery in Chrome on my PC. Have you forced off the 3D imagery, maybe?

Looks like Google Earth has imagery of Minneapolis, Richfield, Bloomington, Burnsville, and Lakeville from 4/24/2023 now. It is a box roughly outlined by (W) Xenwood Ave, (N) 62nd Ave N/54th Ave NE, (E) Cleveland Ave, (S) 320th St.

Google Earth imagery for the Twin Cities has been updated to late May with exception of St. Paul south of 94 stretching to Apple Valley. The current state of the SW LRT is probably the most visible project, as well as a lot of the active development sites.

Aerials in Google for Saint Paul are updated to July 2023. Street views, not so much.

Aerials for Minneapolis just updated today to ~June 2023. Streetview still mostly '22, but I've seen some '23 roll out in the burbs.

Don’t know when it was updated but Apple Maps updated the metro’s 3D map out as far as the western border of Hennepin and out to Victoria and Carver (the town)

It used to be only as far west as, like, Methodist Hospital.

Downtown Hopkins for instance shows the current state of the LRT station and the two pits for the apartments downtown (which are currently topped out and going through finishing). The state of Blake Road looks like maybe late 2023.