It's a fantasy come true for the avid nerd /
traveler, but unfortunately for us, it's but a concept in its current form. Syracuse's own Rahul Mahtani and Yofred Moik have dreamed up Google Envelopes, and if brought to production, this might just make the USPS as relevant as it was during the heyday known as
1985. Put simply, the solution would involve a new 'Send Envelope' method of passing along a note penned in
Gmail; when pressed, you'd get a printout of the message along with a specially crafted envelope, the latter of which really makes this idea shine. The envelope itself would be a
Google Maps representation of the quickest route to transfer said message from you to the recipient if roadways and kayaks were used in place of fiber and coax, giving the receiver a crucially awesome keepsake each time you dropped him or her a line. Oh, and having an 'Avoid Tolls' option would just totally put it over the top -- even if were relegated to
beta.
[Thanks, Yofred]
posted March 31st 2010 8:21PM
what if the sender lives to the east of the recipient?
brb stocking printer ink
If you are in the UK then this is just in time. I have always loved googles april fools. The toilet one was the best!!!
To quote the article "It’s only a concept"
So stifle your enthusiasm..
I hate April Fools because I don't know what to take seriously. That said, I love this idea and hope that it's actually real and makes it's way to market. I could see people (including myself) actually using it and generating some rev for Google and the USPS (I think that they could even get away with a "special edition" charge on the postage).
Very creative. Cool stuff.
It's the reinvention of the Pony Express. :)
What a cool idea!
Whatever happened to ENKIN? Or "Live Mode"? When are we getting it? Eversince Google acquired them 2 years ago, we haven't heard ziltch about it.
Might be April Fools but not associated with Google.
Oh Yeah! Lets see what Google pulls out of its hat this year on April Fool's Day!!!!
this is april fools day stuff right?
My grandma will love this.
what about west to east?
@SmilinGoat
heh heh, that pic is west to east. but for east to west, pivot the map's orientation and you're golden.
Pure innovation for those of us that still enjoy receiving snail mail.
What's an efficient way to try something new? Disguise it as an april fools joke and if people like it, say it was real all along!
Clever idea, but it doesn't meet postal requirements in most countries, where they need clear space on the bottom of the envelope for them to print barcodes that work with the automated sorting equipment.
@gotsmart
Bottom line, if the Post Office really needs help finding, say, Chicago, we're all doomed. Oh, and we still don't have Universal Health Care.
Is this for real? I mean, as if inkjet ink wasn't expensive enough or toner even.
Actually, what would be a cool innovation would be if e-mail had a method to send to a physical address. Sometimes you may not know a person or businesses e-mail, or simply want the impact of hard copy mail.
So, you type your e-mail, address it to "123 Main St., Any City, Any State, 10101" and then your message gets printed at the post office closest to the recipient. The post office then puts it in an envelop and delivers it to the recipient.
Wow that is just amazing!! I think i would rather use those instead of email
Didnt they do the print out your mail stuff last year or year before on 4/1?
That would be a totally ausome app. Where you put in the FROM and TO addresses, and put a blank envelope in your printer and BAM a printed envelope with a map on it. That would soo rock!
I love the idea
good idea. if only they gave these to the d-bag at papa john's...
It would be cool if the envelopes were reusable flexible displays showing real time data.
Envelopes made out of maps aren't a new concept. I used to intern at a map retail store and when ever we had extra maps we'd send them to a paper company so they could make them into envelopes. Granted they were topographical maps of random areas around the world...
@Cobatts They had a sweet-ass name though: topolopes.
Do the envelopes have multitouch?
Waste of Ink...
what if the place the mail is going to is in the northwest and the return address is in the south of the map????? will the post office get confused
Not exactly the same, but... http://www.mapenvelope.com/
http://mail.google.com/mail/help/paper/policies.html
it was an april fools day joke a few years back done by google.
it was called google paper, look it up
Well looks like snail mail envelopes aren't obsolete after all. Too bad.. I wanted to use all of my unused envelopes so I can make a giant paperweight.
This is pretty easy to create. Well, except the route part, because the google static maps api doesn't support route. A straight line between the two points should work.
Maybe I'm going to make this if I have some time left today.
No, this is actually a pretty damn cool idea! I love it!
The worst part is the production :( Each envelope is unique and thus has to be printed, glued together and then sent to the recipient... a little bit of a hiccup, I'd say...
I would so use Snail mail more often if they really had this!
wow, i dont say this often, but thats pretty awesome, id love that feature!
Would never use this, but it is so badass.
http://mapenvelope.com
This concept is cooler though. What happens if the recipient lives west of the sender? Does the map rotate 180º?
What happens if the end address is to the north east? Works great if you are sending it North-West to West. But not if you are sending North (N to NE), East, or South in any direction - unless you turn the map. Great idea, I actually went and made one myself to "send" to my wife.
@clifflusk scratch that, flip it, and go
How Neat!
I'm sick of Engadget not linking to whatever their stories pertain to. Post an EXTERNAL LINK guys! Enough of these useless internal tag links already...