Wednesday, July 15, 2020

A Random Window onto the World



My new favorite past-time is staring through people's windows around the world. No, I am not a pervert. My voyeurism actually involves using WindowSwap to peer from the inside of people's homes out onto the world - observing the views that people see around the globe when they look out from their windows.

WindowSwap is a very simple website which allows you to view short video clips submitted by people from across the world which show the view from a window in their home. That may not sound very exciting but for the virtual flâneur it provides an extraordinary glimpse into the world as seen from other people's homes.

Take a tour with WindowSwap and you are transported from a view of Alpine mountains from a chalet in a Swiss valley, to a bird's eye view of Singapore glimpsed from a high-rise window, to a noisy and rainy view of New York from a Manhattan loft. Or not. The views that you will see are completely random and could come from any location in the world.



If you enjoy this kind of geographical slideshow providing random glimpses of the world then you might also like MapCrunch. Press 'Go' on Map Crunch and you can view a completely randomized Street View image from Google's huge Street View coverage from around the globe.

The Street View which you are shown could be from anywhere in the world. Map Crunch also allows you to select to view only random Street View images from your choice of continent or country. If the random element of Map Crunch doesn't appeal then you might prefer the Map Crunch Gallery, which shows the best views from MapCrunch's own selected View of the Day.

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