I am not in the habit of writing a review on a park/campground we've never stayed at and this is not such an attempt. However in saying that, I felt I had to say something about a campground that we recently looked at due to it's fairly close proximity to family we visit and thought we'd perhaps try a new park for a change. Well, I checked out a few reviews with the last one telling me to check further so I checked out their website. It showed what "appeared" to be a fairly nice and cozy park situated under a bunch of trees with green grass areas everywhere and really nice looking small pond on the premises with ducks in it, etc. Clear blue skies overhead and a area to check in at plus a few other amenities such as a swimming pool, horseshoe pit and laundry room, etc. Then I noticed that good old Google Earth had done its thing and had evidently driven all thru this park, so down I went to street level on the main road where the park was entered and "drove thru the gate". From there the road, or what was supposed to be a road, was nothing more than a dirt and mud swath cut between the trees. I'd be hard pressed to drive my 4 wheel drive truck on it much less an RV. And then I saw the beautiful pristine pond shown in the pictures. A small brown ,muddy one with what must have been mud hens and not ducks. The road led to the small building surrounded by more dirt and ruts, that was evidently the check in place. So I drove on and went thru the entire park only to find the road just got worse and worse the further up I traveled. Run down and dilapidated trailers and RVs of various types shoved in spaces very close together and every one of them parked in a bed of dirt and mud. Everywhere I looked was dirt, mud and even in some areas it was piled high in mounds and with continuing ruts in the interior roads deep enough to swim in when it rained. And to top it off each road ended with no turn around area. How some of those RVs even got in to their spaces is beyond my imagination and how they are ever going to get out is even further beyond it................ I'll end here but I had to write this as I simply don't understand how this could even remotely be called an RV park, campground or anything other than a run down, filthy dirt junk yard. Hey, to each their own as to where they want to to live or camp but the owners should be ashamed of trying to "lure" perspective RVers into this garbage dump with a website that shows it to be completely different from what it really is. Thanks to the Google Earth team for setting things straight and driving into and around this place to show what it's really like behind the entry sign. What's inside will for sure never be seeing our wheels on those roads. Please note that I am not giving out the name or location of this park as again, we've never stayed there and perhaps by now it has changed. But for some reason I am thinking it hasn't............ BankShot..............(aka Terry)
Is it possible it was recently taken over by new owners that have done upgrades to the park and the Street View images on Google are out of date? Would stink for the owners if that were the case as I know many folks do the same when researching parks to stay at.
I did check the overhead imaging date on Google Earth and it is from Nov. 2016 and it shows the same dirt roads as the older street view images show however in zooming in closer it appears that gravel of some kind has been put down around the main check in building but nowhere else. As I had mentioned, perhaps a few things have changed but it still looks nothing like what their website pictures show it to be.. I think next time we are in that area we will take the car and go check this place out just to see for ourselves up close and personal what it's like currently. And if by chance there have been some changes to the positive I will of course update this thread at that time.......... BankShot.............(aka Terry)
Something I'm not understanding, if this is a private campground would google earth be allowed to drive into and around the place. I thought they can only photo from public roads not private. Mike
Hey Mike - From my understanding Google Earth has to obtain permission to enter and do their photography, etc. inside a private park or campground. We've stayed at a couple of RV parks that had let the Google Earth vehicle come inside and go throughout the premises. I'm not sure of what they have to do to enter a public or state campground but I would think if it was open to the public then they would be able to just drive on in. No doubt they have to obtain clearances from the gate guard if there would be one I would guess. I have used this feature in the past to see exactly how the spaces are situated within the park and when we arrive it's almost like we've been there before................ In the case of this aforementioned park it was the Google Earth street view that told us not to make any reservations until we actually see it for real as this place was really a disaster. And it didn't have to find a place to happen either, it had already happened............. Regards, Terry
Forgot to mention that under certain circumstances I'm pretty sure that there have been times when the Google Earth folks have simply taken a chance and driven right on into a private facility and just not been caught. The thing I can't wrap my old brain around is that I've seen several areas that are public roads and byways, etc. where there is no street view available and yet their cameras went all thru this park on every single dirt road within it and even down one road with nothing on it and ending in what looked like the local dumping area? Strange what they choose to film and what not to film............ BankShot.............(aka Terry)
It would be nice to catch a GE vehicle trespassing on my property. I'd like to have one of those 360 cameras mounted on my MH.
What a great idea! Mount one of those puppies up front on the top and you'd have pics of your trips like no others. And by doing so it would free up your co-pilot from having to try to take them from this angle and that angle, etc. whilst driving down the road. Going thru a really scenic area, flip on the camera and let it do the filming for you. We'd like to see some videos as soon as you get this up and running if you don't mind............... Best regards RLM, BankShot..............(aka Terry)
Another great idea has come forth! Wonder if some of the Admins will read this thread and see how important it would be to have this feature available to all us hard working members who keep them well paid and with benefits packages including vacations when they can take off and do what the rest of us members do best. That would of course be travel, live life to the fullest, and above all add our valuable input to the forum. And to think, they don't even have to ask us for it we just do it because we can................... PS: Everyone be thinking 360 degree video app............... Have a great summer season everyone, BankShot...................(aka Terry)
Not all Google Street Level views are obtained from vehicles. A couple of years ago, while touring the Dallas Arboretum and Botanical Gardens, I spotted a guy sporting a "headdress" of cameras and realized that he was "mapping" the gardens on foot. The "geek" in me kicked in and I went over to chat with him. He said that I was the first person he had ever met who knew what he was doing. If you go to Google and look at the gardens you will see that it has been mapped in its entirety at street level by the guy I met and his colleagues: https://www.google.com/maps/place/Dallas Arboretum and Botanical Garden/@32.8231085,-96.7192347,17z/data=!3m1!4b1!4m5!3m4!1s0x864ea19a64681b47:0x68139237078b7642!8m2!3d32.823104!4d-96.717046?hl=en And the ground level photos are even dated April of 2015 when we were there!
------------------------------------------------------------------ I've also seen this done at a few family parks such as 6 Flags and Knot's Berry Farm, and some of the beaches across the country that have sidewalks and pathways, etc. What amazed me is that Google Earth took the time to actually drive down onto Daytona Beach and do some videos. We use GE for a lot of our travels into new areas so as to familiarize ourselves with the road conditions and how tight might it be to drive thru a small town or on a twisty mountain or coast road, etc. A few years ago we were planning to take a certain road in from the coast over to I-5 and found out that there was a tunnel that we would have never been able to drive thru. Had we gone ahead and just "winged it", we would have had one hellova time turning around on that narrow road to get back and try another route......................... BankShot...............(aka Terry)
Another good application I've found for GE street-level is when "researching" places to buy fuel. I use the Trucker-Path app to find truck diesel pumps at locations other than the big truck stops. We find that it's usually far faster to fuel at a "gas station with truck pumps" (or even an independent truck stop) than it is at the major truck stop chains. However, after identifying a likely place at which to fuel I usually take a look at it using GE to see what it looks like at street level so I can, for example, know which way is "in" and which is "out" which often isn't well marked at smaller stations.
------------------------------------------------------------------- I too use GE street level views to check out any fueling station that we've haven't used in the past. As you said, it's nice to know where the entrances and exits are and whether there's enough area to turn around in should you have to use a pump that could end up being really difficult to get out of, etc. I really like GE as it is so helpful for so many things when you are traveling....................... BankShot.............(aka Terry)
