Streetview South Africa

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Viator
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Streetview South Africa

Post by Viator »

Very good to see that we can now do "virtual" road tours of many regions of South Africa.

Example image: http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&i ... 2,180,,0,0

I am always impressed by what Google Streetview reveals of the hitherto unsuspected beauty of the countries it covers (especially when the only views we ordinarily otherwise get, via TV news, are scenes of conflict and strife).

Another, rural, image (yes, my landscape tastes are rather Scandinavian!): http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&i ... 00284&z=19 (Are those "return-to-the-left" combined-with-central-dashes road markings unique to SA?)

A plus is that the resolution of the South African images appears to be of the higher "European" standard, rather than the comparatively rather "washed-out" views available -- very welcome though they nevertheless are -- in GS's North American and Australasian coverage.

One question I have is: what (if any) is the significance of the difference between "one-way road" signs which have a white arrow on a red background as against those which display the same arrow against a green background? I hope SA-expert Sabristi will be able to oblige!
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Truvelo
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Re: Streetview South Africa

Post by Truvelo »

That view could be anywhere in Europe until you scroll to the right and see the massive palm trees :D

And here's one for the streetlight fans.
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cb a1
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Re: Streetview South Africa

Post by cb a1 »

Brings back memories of visiting there in 2003.

Not scenic, but scenes like
http://maps.google.co.uk/maps?hl=en&ie= ... 91,,0,8.92
remind me of the 'slog' getting from Cape Town back to Jo'burg towards the end of the holiday.

Come over the crest of a hill and it was just a dead straight stretch of road to the next crest miles in the distance surrounded by brown scrub.

Itinerary was Jo'burg, Krugersdorp, Ladysmith, Durban, Port Elizabeth, Knysna, Cape Town, Pretoria, Jo'burg. [about 4,500 km over 18 days IIRC]
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Vierwielen
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Re: Streetview South Africa

Post by Vierwielen »

Truvelo wrote:
That view could be anywhere in Europe until you scroll to the right and see the massive palm trees :D

And here's one for the streetlight fans.
And for the record, the trees on the other side of the road are Jacaranda trees - they come out in purple bloom in the spring.
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Re: Streetview South Africa

Post by Vierwielen »

cb a1 wrote:Brings back memories of visiting there in 2003.
Brought back memories of my childhood.
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Re: Streetview South Africa

Post by signol »

It's been up for a year or two now. We figured the car went past on a Tuesday to the in-laws (Durban) as the rubbish was at the front gate :)

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Viator
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Re: Streetview South Africa

Post by Viator »

Vierwielen wrote:Brought back memories of my childhood.
Vierwielen, I wonder if you could enlighten us about the "pap and steak" and "sphatlo" [it's not on Wikipedia] being offered for sale at takeaway shops in the SA images.

See: it's not just the traffic signs I look at!
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Re: Streetview South Africa

Post by multiraider2 »

For me it brings back memories of a trip from Johannesburg Airport to Madikwe Game Reserve in 2001.

The rental car map was not of a big enough scale to navigate with any degree of confidence and the N4 road that starts immediately west of Pretoria does still just end at a junction and puts you on smaller roads. This led to a few errors to say the least.

Still, an exiting trip.

On the way back and with a very small scale map, finding the way into the hotel was also very interesting even though it was in/adjacent to the airport. After miles of open roads you are suddenly faced with the layout:

HERE.

I was getting very frustrated in seeing the hotel, but having to go round and round trying to find the car park entrance. I got in eventually via a filing station down ramp. Oh for online mapping and streetview then.
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Re: Streetview South Africa

Post by signol »

Viator wrote:I wonder if you could enlighten us about the "pap and steak" and "sphatlo"
"pap" is a kind of porridge made from corn (mielie) meal, a roughly ground flour. Steak would be the stewed beef served with it.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mielie-meal
Sorry I can't comment on "sphatlo".

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Re: Streetview South Africa

Post by cb a1 »

The one dish that I remember well was when we came across Bunny Chow in Durban.

What a great idea (and delicious too).
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Re: Streetview South Africa

Post by signol »

cb a1 wrote:The one dish that I remember well was when we came across Bunny Chow in Durban.

What a great idea (and delicious too).
According to my brother in law who took me there, the best Bunny Chow in the city is from Govinder's by the Blue Lagoon:

http://maps.google.co.uk/?ie=UTF8&ll=-2 ... 12,,0,5.11

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Re: Streetview South Africa

Post by bothar »

The Streetview came up before the World Cup last year. I went to South Africa on holiday about a month later and not having much of an idea what to expect the Streetview give me a good indication.

Belfast, Mpumalanga is even less sophisticated than the NI original.
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Re: Streetview South Africa

Post by crazyknightsfan »

I enjoyed having a look through the regional areas at the little towns, the beautiful scenery and of course for old signs.

Here is a deteriorating trailblazer in Belfast.

I know very little about South Africa - is this an old style that is being phased out?
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Re: Streetview South Africa

Post by Vierwielen »

crazyknightsfan wrote:I enjoyed having a look through the regional areas at the little towns, the beautiful scenery and of course for old signs.

Here is a deteriorating trailblazer in Belfast.

I know very little about South Africa - is this an old style that is being phased out?
When I was last in South Africa, the route marker (the word trailblazer is not used in RSA) was very typical. National roads are identified using pentagons and regional roads using squares (or diamonds). The route marker in the picture is probably suffering from neglect.
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Re: Streetview South Africa

Post by booshank »

Here's the pentagon-shaped one used for national roads, this one just East of the Sundays River marking 90km to Grahamstown (Grahamstad):-
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Re: Streetview South Africa

Post by booshank »

Dualling the N1 north of Bloemfontein between exits 208 and 222, here they are building a new bridge across the Modder River to carry the southbound carriageway: Google Street View. I believe this work is now complete.
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Re: Streetview South Africa

Post by jackal »

multiraider2 wrote:For me it brings back memories of a trip from Johannesburg Airport to Madikwe Game Reserve in 2001.

The rental car map was not of a big enough scale to navigate with any degree of confidence and the N4 road that starts immediately west of Pretoria does still just end at a junction and puts you on smaller roads. This led to a few errors to say the least.
According to google maps there are two parallel N4s to the North and West of Pretoria, which, if accurate, can't have helped matters. I wonder how this has come about? Obviously both roads are not finished as intended, but that doesn't explain how they've ended up with the same number.

Another rather splendid unfinished road project in the Pretoria area sees the R80 John Vorster Rd go around a loop. This was presumably intended as a cloverleaf with c/d lanes, which would've connected to freeways to the south and west.

There are plans to build the southward extension as part of the Gauteng Freeway Improvement Project but the westward extension appears to be dead and buried - sadly so, as being between the two N4s on a similar east-west alignment it would be a good candidate to be a third N4.

A separate puzzle is why it was thought so many freeways heading west out of Pretoria into sparsely populated land were needed.
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Re: Streetview South Africa

Post by JamesA44 »

Land borders always interest me:

Approaching Botswana - which way now?

Approaching Zimbabwe - scoot round & there's a lot more activity!

And approaching Mozambique - the Google car got in the car lane & went right to the border. I wonder if they crossed?
booshank
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Re: Streetview South Africa

Post by booshank »

jackal wrote:
multiraider2 wrote:For me it brings back memories of a trip from Johannesburg Airport to Madikwe Game Reserve in 2001.

The rental car map was not of a big enough scale to navigate with any degree of confidence and the N4 road that starts immediately west of Pretoria does still just end at a junction and puts you on smaller roads. This led to a few errors to say the least.
According to google maps there are two parallel N4s to the North and West of Pretoria, which, if accurate, can't have helped matters. I wonder how this has come about? Obviously both roads are not finished as intended, but that doesn't explain how they've ended up with the same number.

Another rather splendid unfinished road project in the Pretoria area sees the R80 John Vorster Rd go around a loop. This was presumably intended as a cloverleaf with c/d lanes, which would've connected to freeways to the south and west.

There are plans to build the southward extension as part of the Gauteng Freeway Improvement Project but the westward extension appears to be dead and buried - sadly so, as being between the two N4s on a similar east-west alignment it would be a good candidate to be a third N4.

A separate puzzle is why it was thought so many freeways heading west out of Pretoria into sparsely populated land were needed.
The two branches of the N4 at Pretoria have puzzled me before. At first I thought it was just a Google Maps mistake as it isn't always very accurate. However other maps also show the same thing and so do the signs.

AFAIK the original N4 route is now numbered R104 (usually when a national road has been upgraded to a significantly different alignment, the old road is renumbered as a regional road with a number 100 higher). Later what is now the southern branch of the N4 was built and then about 10 years ago the northern branch that bypasses Pretoria to the north.

I don't know why the second N4 route hasn't been renumbered - it's illogical and seems like a mistake. Clearly the northern branch is the main route as it is continuous, while the southern one has a section of R104 between it and the rest of the N4.

Perhaps they were too busy sticking Polokwane stickers over Pietersburg ones etc to get round to the renumbering :laugh:
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Re: Streetview South Africa

Post by booshank »

I'm rather intrigued by South African road bridges and details of them that you can see on streetview but don't normally notice when driving.

First of all there is a rather picturesque design of bridge of the 1940s to early 1960s, which are now usually only seen on regional and more minor roads. It has a concrete railing/barrier/parapet (I'm not sure of the technical term), usually painted white that makes me think of a picket fence. These almost always have a commemorative date built into them.

Here's a 1951 example near Worcester.

Then there is the more recent type from the 1960s to the present, again with a concrete barrier and distinctively brutalist South African looking (as opposed to the flimsy looking UK-style steel fence). For example, this 1967 one on the N1 Kroonstad bypass

Usually there is an identification plate at the start of the bridge (sometimes missing) with a number and date, which is useful as unlike in the UK it is difficult to find opening dates otherwise:-

Another 1967 example from Kroonstad.

Here at the Klein Brak River, the bridges for the carriageways of the N2 are mismatched with one from 1965 and the other 1971.

Then coming up to date, the 2010 N4 Nelspruit Northern Bypass keeps up the same design.
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