Smart Globe 2.0

Google Earth is great. But the globe I had sitting on my desk as a kid wasn´t that bad either.
I could touch it, swivel it around, easily understand the concept of the aquator and where I would have to live in order to experience an almost stable climate all year round. I could easily see why a country might be called “down-under” and some countries are supposed to be “on the other end of the world”. Best of all : I could turn on the light and watch our planet while falling asleep and dreaming of far-away places.

Well these globes are still around. Not much as changed though, some magnetically “float” in the air, some are made from marble – you can even buy a waterball globe. I have collected some here.

But, the concept of the traditional globe has been more or less the same for the past 30 years ago. Time to change that and introduce a new idea.

The smart globe 2.0

Smart Globe 2.0

Design Concept for the Smart Globe 2.0

My new concept for the smart globe 2.0 is driven by two major ideas and changes:.

First, I suggest to use mini LEDs to light it. Not 2 or 3, not hundreds, but thousands to light up the Globe 2.0. Using these LEDs will allow much more variation than merely turning the light on and off and you can illuminate very very detailed areas on this globe, such as cities, rivers, counties and a lot more.

Secondly, I control the smart globe 2.0 by connecting it to a smart-phone through an app. This app includes hundreds of functions which in turn allow endless variations.

Imagine the possibilities:

  • show your child where mom or dad are on their business trip, or where the grand-parent or friends you met on your last holiday live.
  • learn about the states/provinces of your country by showing their location
  • look for longest river, the highest mountain or the deepest point on the planet
  • calculate distances from A to B and show them on the globe 2.0
  • play games by searching for cities, countries, rivers or mountains and provide the solution by highlighting the results on the globe 2.0.
  • teach science by illuminating specific areas such as “covered by water”, “forestation” or “rainfall data” and show climate zones (desert, tropical rain forest)
  • transfer real-time data and show vessel or airplane locations in realtime and watch them move on the globe 2.0
  • thousands more ideas are thinkable …

Watch our planet, learn and study it, educate your kids and grand-children or yourself. Use the Smart Globe 2.0 in classrooms and excite the students with fascinating data and views of the unique planet we all live on. This is the next generation desk globe: Smart Globe 2.0

Miniatur Wunderland Shanghai

One of my all time favourites: The “Miniatur Wunderland” in Hamburg/Germany, supposedly the largest miniature railway attraction in the world. And there are not only trains, there are cars, container ships and even airplanes moving around, fully automated. See for yourself in their official video on YouTube:

I hv been there 3-4 times in the past 10 years – the kids loved it, and I loved it even more. You can definetely spend more than one day in there and always find more and more fascinating details.

Miniatur Wunderland Shanghai

I havent seen anything similar in Shanghai. Well, there was the “Christmas Train” in the Hilton Hotel lobby every year (old video from 2008) and we enjoyed that display every year. Compared to the Wunderland it was tiny but nevertheless a miniature railway sytem. Believe it or not, it has been cancelled this year. How long did it run ? 10 years ? Too sad.

Now living in Shanghai since 1999 I already had this idea several years ago: Why not set up such a “Wunderland” in Shanghai ? I am sure the Chinese audience would just love it. Imagine a replica of PuDong with the highrises of LuJiaZhui, HuangPu River and the Bund, the MagLev, PuDong Airport and and the Yangshan Deep Water Port – all miniaturized to HO scale. Add the HongQiao Hub in another display and then some models of Switzerland or Germany to showcase further landscapes. Special areas could show the railway to Tibet – the highest in the world.

I think it would just work out perfectly and add another major tourist attraction to Shanghai while she is evolving to be more and more of a tourist attraction every year; just to mention a few: the F1 Race Track, Disney Land opening soon, Sea World, dozens of Museums, the Shanghai Urban Planning Exhibition Center on Peoples Square, the Expo 2010 Site …among many others.

UPDATE 07/2014: I contacted Wunderland Hamburg and asked them whether they would be interested in a another Wunderland in Shanghai. They wrote to me, that they want it to be unique and do not plan to open any further Wunderland in any other country.

Krümke Tappenbeck | GERMANY

Krümke TappenbeckKrümke Tappenbeck

Kurzer Stop-Over am Rande von Wolfsburg in der “Krümke” Strasse in Tappenbeck.

Gibt es dieses Schild ?
Die Frage kam von verschiedenen Seiten und die Antwort ist JA!

Es gibt eine Straße die “Krümke” heisst oder anders formuliert : es ist kein
Weg, aber auch keine richtige Straße, es ist einfach “Krümke”.

Meine Frage an den Bürgermeister, wie es zu der Bezeichung kam wurde wie folgt beantwortet:

“Einer kurzen Stichstraße haben wir im Rat der Gemeinde den Namen “Krümke” gegeben, da diese Straße sich in einem Gebiet befindet, das die alte Flurbezeichnung “Krümke” hat. In Tappenbeck wählen wir gern für die Benennung von Straßen alte Flurbezeichnungen, damit diese “nicht verloren” gehen.”

Shanghai Auto Museum

Shanghai Auto Museum

Entrance of the Shanghai Auto Museum

Shanghai Auto Museum

Shanghai ist eine der Auto-Metropolen Chinas und hat natürlich auch ein eigenes Auto-Museum. Es ist einen Besuch wert und bietet eine interessante Mischung internationaler Klassiker und chinesischer Originale, insbesondere dem Shanghai SH760. Es gibt sehr viele technische Exponate und eine große Carrera-Bahn für die kleinen Besucher.

Das Museum befindet sich im Stadtteil Anting, der sog. “VW Stadt” in Shanghai, in der Nähe der Shanghai Formel 1 Strecke und ist auch mit der U-Bahn gut zu erreichen.

Shanghai Auto Museum – Adresse:
No. 7565 Boyuan Road, Anting District, 201805 Shanghai
In Chinesisch: 上海安亭博园路7565号
Offizielle Website: http://www.shautomuseum.gov.cn/en/

Einen Überblick über weitere Auto-Museen in China findet man hier.