the Making of "Where On Earth is Waldo"

A huge painting of Waldo waits for the next satellite camera fly-over of a secret rooftop. The next update of Google Earth's photos of Vancouver will mark the beginning of a global game of "Where's Waldo?", initiated by artist Melanie Coles. This slideshow documents the project. Now the question is "Where's Google Earth?"

Category:

Entertainment

Tags:

• whereOnEarthIsWaldo
• WheresWaldo
• MelanieColes
• GoogleEarth
• Waldo
• Viral
• games
• CameOfAgeBeforeComputers

[Nemesis2500]

isn't his name Wally?

[nancyblueskies]

You are right! He's Wally in England, where his character was created. They renamed him Waldo for North America (go figger). And in the translations they look for a "Wally"-type name in their own language.

[usingvision]

What a fabulous slide show. Thanks for taking the time to show the world "the making of".

[nancyblueskies]

Thanks! This weekend I'm working on a second one, interviewing Waldo about how it feels to be famous (again)!

Nancy

[miriambromero]

Que buena idea!!.Enhorabuena y seguid asi!! Saludos desde España

[nancyblueskies]

!Hola a España! Melanie es muy feliz para tener europeos el mirar de Google Earth para la fotografia de Waldo.

[anitaeep]

he's called wally every apart form america and canada.

[nancyblueskies]

Thanks!

[nancyblueskies]

Yes I do understand! And in fact part of what Melanie wants to do via her website is explain to people how she did the project, and offer a scaleable "Waldo Plan" as open source. She visualizes almost-identical Waldo's popping up around the world -- just like they do in the books!

[nancyblueskies]

They don't announce when they will do a fly-over, but Melanie is pretty sure that it has been a while since they have come by, and so we won't have to wait long. You can date a photo by looking at the level of completion of construction sites.