Google’s love affair with HTML5 is well documented.Now, in a bid to show off what the latest web technology can do, it has teamed up with Canadian band Arcade Fire and writer/director Chris Milk to create a rather spectacular mashup.
The Wilderness Downtown combines “Google Maps and Google Street View with HTML5 canvas, HTML5 audio and video, an interactive drawing tool, and choreographed windows that dance around the screen.”
It’s certainly processor-intensive (with a warning to close any unnecessary programmes while you use it) and it takes a while to load. However, once it’s up and running it uses an address you specify to personalise an experience around the Arcade Fire song ‘We Used To Wait’. Among other things, you’ll see animated birds fly over the house you grew up in as different windows pop up on queue to enhance the song and its video.
Google has a ‘making of’ explanation here.
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