Wednesday, February 1, 2012

Wednesday search challenge (Feb 1, 2011): Where are you?



Imagine the following situation:  You've had a sudden episode of amnesia while on a trip  and have suddenly just woken up in a strange place.  You have no idea where you are.  All you know is that this is the view out the window.  
You need to get your anti-amnesia medicine to prevent blacking out again and you need it fast.


Insurance will cover the cost of sending your medicine via courier, but you need to know where to tell them to go.  

Question:  Where are you?  Can you find the street address, in what building, in what city? 

For today's extra credit--can you figure out what office number and floor to send the medicine?  How about the phone number?  



Search on! 


And remember... be sure to tell us HOW you figured it out and how long it took you to do!  (One of the points of this blog is to share the search methods and tricks we know!) 




(And a tip of the hat to Andrew Sullivan for his inspirational "The View From Your Window" series.)  

99 comments:

  1. I am in Warsaw, Poland and I'm looking at the TPSA Tower, which means I'm probably looking out of the Warsaw Financial Center located at Świętokrzyska 34, 01-001 (whatever that means).

    I'm assuming that I would want my medicine sent to X-Press Couriers located on the 7th Floor, to the left. There is this information, too:

    st. Emilia Plater 53 00-113

    Which is also an address for within the building maybe? I don't know crazy Polish streets and address formats. The telephone number, though, is 801 00 66 00

    Also, since I am an American, I would head over to the US Dept of Commerce located in the building and figure out what exactly the address is :)

    To find this, I did a couple of searches that failed (France AND tp, France AND skyscraper, etc). Finally, I just did a search for tp AND skyscraper and about the fourth hit was this one in Poland. In order to find out where I was looking out of to see it, I went to Google Earth, used the 3D rendering and tried to replicate the image as closely as possible, which put me in the Warsaw Financial Center. From there, it was looking at the tenants and that was that.

    Total time, about 15 minutes.

    ReplyDelete
  2. This photo appears to be taken from somewhere near the Museum of Modern Art in Warsaw, Poland.

    ReplyDelete
  3. warsaw, poland. that's the "TPSA" building.

    viewer's location... coming

    ReplyDelete
  4. Now that was fun. Thanks for the challenge.

    -Corky

    ReplyDelete
  5. HA! amnesiac is in the google poland building.
    Google Warsaw
    Warsaw Financial Center
    Emilii Plater 53
    00-113 Warszawa
    Poland
    Phone: +48 22 207 19 00

    ReplyDelete
  6. So I started with the picture. Clicking on it gave me a nice clear view of the logo on the building I'm seeing out of the window. I first tried using Google Image search using the Chrome Search by Image extension https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/dajedkncpodkggklbegccjpmnglmnflm

    I didn't see anything similar.

    Focused in on the logo on the building. Searched for [tp logo] BINGO!
    I'm looking at the Telekomunikacja Polska building in Warsaw, Poland.

    I tried and failed using Google Maps to hunt and peck through Panoramio pictures.

    I needed something to give me orientation, so image searched for [Warsaw Skyline]. Found an image with the Warsaw skyline LABELED. WooHoo! http://www.skyscrapercity.com/showthread.php?t=150660

    The person used abbreviations so I started with the building labeled WFC. Searched for [WFC Warsaw]. I may be in the Warsaw Financial Center. I needed to look on their web site to see if anything jogged my memory.

    Aha! They have an "Our Tenants" link. Scanning for anything that rings a bell... http://www.wfc.pl/#/EN/Our%20Tenants

    Another Aha! Google has offices there. Search [google offices warsaw] and got http://www.google.com/about/company/address.html

    Google Warsaw
    Warsaw Financial Center
    Emilii Plater 53
    00-113 Warszawa
    Poland
    Phone: +48 22 207 19 00
    Fax: +48 22 207 19 21

    You were right, this was fun!

    ReplyDelete
  7. floor 8 or 10 according to http://www.wfc.pl/#/EN/Our%20Tenants/

    ReplyDelete
  8. First of all, nice challenge. Very fun to take.

    It took me less than four minutes to arrive to the following answer: Warsaw Financial Center, located at Emilii Plater 53 in Warsaw, Poland.

    How did I get to it:

    1) I zoomed the picture and noticed the "tp" logo on its top.

    2) I googled "TP tower". The "TP S.A. Tower" Wikipedia article is the third match. The article has a picture that confirmed it was the correct building.

    3) I took the TP Tower address from the Wikipedia article and feed it to Google Maps.

    4) Inspecting the map, I found the building from which the picture was probably taken. Much to my amusement, Maps indicated that building as the location of Google Poland. =)

    5) I went back to Maps and searched for Google Poland, which gave me the address "Emilii Plater 53".

    6) I then googled the later address. The first match revealed the building name (Warsaw Financial Center). [Inside that link there was a link to the building website, which I browsed just for curiosity. It confirmed Google Poland as one of the tenants, floors 8/10.]

    Regarding the extra credit question:

    If I had to *guess*, I would give Google Poland's floor/office numbers, and telephone number, which I have at this point.

    However, I can't be sure the picture was taken from Google Poland's offices (even though it seems likely ;)), nor do I have more time to look for a better answer now.

    ReplyDelete
  9. Millenium Bank building in Warsaw (capital of Poland)
    Address: Al. Jana Pawła II 82
    00-175 Warszawa

    1. Searched for the phrase (pzu building next to tp building)
    2. ended up at a linked in profile (http://pl.linkedin.com/in/adamrejczak)working at Telekomunikacja Polska (tp)
    3. Searched for Telekomunikacja Polska HQ and came up with tons of images.
    4. Searched for Address and manually pinpointed the building the picture was taken from.
    5. Using street view/pictures taken i came up with that picture: http://maps.google.com/maps?q=telekomunikacja+polska&hl=en&ll=52.233871,20.998735&spn=0.001915,0.005284&fb=1&hq=telekomunikacja+polska&cid=0,0,11998241641467780338&t=h&z=18&layer=c&cbll=52.233871,20.998735&cbp=12,0,,0,0&photoid=po-41456231 which had the description Al. Jana Pawła II 82 as address
    6. Ended up googling for that and reached http://www.banki.pl/bank-millennium-warszawa-srodmiescie-al_jana_pawla_ii-82--54657-18,0.html

    Only very basic strategy but it was fun for me :)
    As to the floor. Based on simple estimate i'd say 11th floor. But couldn't find a way to pinpoint exactly.

    ReplyDelete
  10. Google (8th & 10th Floor)
    WARSAW FINANCIAL CENTER
    53, Emilii Plater Street
    Warsaw, Poland
    +48 22 207 19 00

    ReplyDelete
  11. You are in Warsaw Poland in the Hektor restaurant at Swietokrzyska 34

    ReplyDelete
  12. Street Address: Emilii Plater 53, 00-001 Warszawa, Poland
    Building: Google Poland (http://maps.google.com/maps/place?cid=15718177721978753036)

    Extra Credit: Ran out of time

    Total Time: 20 minutes while multi-tasking
    How: Zoomed in on the image, found the PZU on the tower, searched for "PZU", found out it's a Polish Insurance company. Then searched for "PZU Tower" to find this site: http://wiezowce.waw.pl/pzu.php which gave the address. Then searched for that address on google maps. From there I looked for that distinctive round tower which turned out to be a Polish Telecom company. Using those two towers as a reference, I looked for another building that would give that perspective on those two towers.

    ReplyDelete
  13. * Zoom on image.
    * Search images for PZU and TP => PZU & TP tower in panoramio http://www.panoramio.com/photo/5003457
    * World Map: Poland: Masovian Voivodeship: Warsaw
    * Google Maps: loc: 52° 14' 3.02" 20° 59' 59.46" => http://g.co/maps/xw7wk
    * Again analyzing the Where-Am-I.JPG and the GMaps satellite view every thing points to one building tagged with google.pl

    Google Poland Sp z o.o.
    Emilii Plater 53
    00-001 Warsaw, Poland
    22 207 19 00
    google.pl

    * From google addresses page:

    Google Warsaw
    Warsaw Financial Center
    Emilii Plater 53
    00-113 Warszawa
    Poland
    Phone: +48 22 207 19 00
    Fax: +48 22 207 19 21

    * From google search http://www.wfc.pl/

    * From: http://www.wfc.pl/#/EN/Our%20Tenants

    Google Floors 8 /10

    So, less than 5 minutes to answer:

    - Where are you?: Poland
    - Can you find the street address,: Emilii Plater 53
    - in what building,: Warsaw Financial Center
    - in what city?: Warsaw


    That's it. I'm timed out (>15minutes) trying to find out what floor. I know the window is in the NNW side but nothing else.

    That's my option. I tell the courrier to send it to Google Warsaw, Warsaw Financial Center, Emilii Plater 53
    00-113 Warszawa, Poland, Phone: +48 22 207 19 00, Fax: +48 22 207 19 21
    Counting on that Google people are cool and open mind people wherever in the world they are. I'm head to 8 floor and wait there for the courier. (and this riddle solution:-)

    Regards.

    ReplyDelete
  14. About 10 minutes if I'm right, but my level of certainty is low. I think I'm at the InterContinental Warsaw. I searched for the names/logos on the buildings and then used Google maps to zero in on the location.

    ReplyDelete
  15. I believe I am in the Telekomunikacja Polska SA building on Twanda. I saw the "PZU" on top of the building in the background and searched for that building while looking for the TP building at the right angles. I then used Google maps to search around for the right trajectory in images.

    ReplyDelete
  16. Forgot to mention I am in Warsaw, Poland. The address is: Twarda 18, 00-105 Warszawa. The phone number is: (22) 527-00-00. I have no idea what floor I am on. I'll meet you in the lobby...

    ReplyDelete
  17. Well, scratch that. I am looking that building. Not in it.I should have taken another minute before posting. Now, I'm guessing, but I think I am in the Orange Labs building.

    ReplyDelete
  18. I'm in Warsaw, Poland, specifically the Warsaw Financial Centre building, located at Emilii Plater 53. The extra credit is a bit harder, but I'm going to take a guess and say I'm either on the 8th or 10th floor, northside, at the Google Poland office. The phone number is +48 22 207 19 00.

    That one was a bit challenging. I first tried a Google Image search match, but that was useless. Then I opened the image up in a separate tab in Chrome and zoomed in to see any clues. There was something in the left hand corner that I thought I recognized as the Egyptian flag. I also saw a Westin hotel. So I looked in Cairo for a Westin, and didn't find one. I went back to the image and saw PZU on a building. I searched for that in connection with Cairo, and came up empty. Instead, I searched for anything on PZU, and found it was a Polish Insurance company. I searched for Westin hotel in Poland and got a few hits. I also found the TCP SA building. That got me the neighborhood. I used Google Earth to figure out where the photo was probably taken from, with a lot of zooming and panning and comparing to the original. That got me the WFC. A search for Office Directory Warsaw Financial Centre got me their website, which lists tenants. I took a guess and figured the photo was taken from one of the offices that Google rents.

    Finally, I just searched for Phone Number Google Poland Warsaw and got a list of addresses and numbers for Google offices around the world.

    It took me the better part of an hour.

    ReplyDelete
  19. I am in Warsaw, Poland at the Warsaw Financial Center Warszawa address: ul. Emilii Plater 53

    I searched for the logo i can see on the skyscraper and found out it was TPSA's logo, then I searched 'TPSA skyscraper' and I found out that it was the TPSA Tower in Warsaw Poland situated at ul. Twarda 14/16, then I searched the address on Google maps and possible building where the photo it could have been taken.

    ReplyDelete
  20. You're in the Google Poland building in Warsaw (Emilii Plater 53). Took about 30 mins - first by examining the languages on the billboards in the picture, and searching for the companies TP and PZU visible on the buildings. Once I determined it was likely Poland, I searched for the TP headquarters on Google Images (as it seems like a headquarter-y type building). After that, it was on to Earth and Maps to use Panoramio and rooftops to determine the proper direction of the view.

    Haven't figured out the office number yet...maybe if I have more time later...

    ReplyDelete
  21. I recognize on the buildings on the photo: Westin, PZU, TP.
    According to a quick search in Google, I’m in Warsaw (Poland) in the area “Za Zelazna Brama” ( Behind the Iron Gate ) and look at:
    * The Westin Warsaw Hotel (Aleja Jana Pawła II 21 00-001 Warszawa), Total height: 94 m. Number of floors: 22
    * The PZU Tower (Aleja Jana Pawła II 21 00-001 Warszawa), Total height: 106 m. Number of floors: 29
    * The TP S.A. Tower (ul. Twarda 14/16 01-001 Warszawa), Total height: 122 m. Number of floors: 27
    All details from: Skyscrapers of Warsaw site (http://wiezowce.waw.pl/index_en.php)

    With a little help from Google Earth, I think I’m at the Warsaw Intercontinental Hotel (ul. Emilii Plater 49 00-125 Warszawa), Total height: 164 m. Number of floors: 45.

    It took me about 15 minutes to figure this out.

    I might be at the 16th floor (approximately halve the height TP S.A. building = 60m)

    ReplyDelete
  22. OK: I am in Warsaw (I mean, I am in Berlin right now, but your pic is in Warsaw!).
    Could it be from the Google Offices in Warsaw, that seem to be located in this building:
    http://maps.google.com/maps?hl=en&q=westin%20warschaw&gs_sm=e&gs_upl=10249l10249l0l10455l1l1l0l0l0l0l0l0ll0l0&bav=on.2,or.r_gc.r_pw.r_cp.,cf.osb&biw=1600&bih=1099&ie=UTF-8&sa=N&tab=il ?

    In any case: method -
    Googling the names of the companies - I must admit that I first searched for a Westin hotel in Egypt...
    Then, looking for the best angle to see all three buildings

    ReplyDelete
  23. Warsaw Financial Center
    Emilii Plater 53
    00-113 Warszawa
    Poland
    Phone: +48 22 207 19 00
    Fax: +48 22 207 19 21

    Office: Google Warsaw
    Floors: 8/10


    Search took approximately 25 minutes

    Strategies:
    Started by trying to reverse image search the picture... Strike 1

    Moved to trying to ID the flag in the middle left of the picture... Strike 2

    Looking at the picture I could tell it wasn't US and it likely wasn't South America/Asia, zoomed to get a view of the language written bottom middle and saw that it looked East European. I then noticed that one building said "Deloitte" and another "Westin" so I searched for those two terms together with mixed results. Added "pZu" to the mix and came up with Warsaw as location that had all three.

    Switched to Google Earth to ID physically the buildings in the foreground of the photo and turned around, switching back to map view to get the name of the building.

    Went to the building's website to ID companies in the building and made an assumption based on height of the photo along with spatial locations in the Map view to hazard a guess at the Google Warsaw office, noted from the website that those were located on floors 8 and 10 of the Warsaw Financial Center

    ReplyDelete
  24. I'm in Warsaw Poland, looking out at the TP S.A. Tower. Took me about 2 minutes to figure that out. Searched for TP tower in images and got it right away.

    The address of the building I'm in is:

    Google Poland Sp z o.o.‎
    Emilii Plater 53
    00-001 Warsaw, Poland
    Phone Number:
    +48 22 207 19 00 ‎

    That took about another 5 minutes of studying the Google map to figure out which building it was - then just used Google maps information for the building.

    I'm assuming I'm at the Warsaw office of Google Poland. That is an easy assumption to make anyway - based upon the fact that their office is in that building and you work for them. The phone number I used is theirs.

    The number for the property manager is:
    +48 22 540 7000

    The directory of the Warsaw Financial Center building says that the Google offices are on floors 8 and 10. I haven't figured out the exact floor yet or the office number. I'll keep looking between meetings today and maybe get it, maybe not.

    Great website, it's the most fun I have at work all week!

    ReplyDelete
  25. The Egyptian flag in the lower left threw me for a while. I searched "PZU" from the building in the upper right. I found that the Polish insurance company is based in Warsaw. I found a picture of their headquarters in Warsaw and saw that the buildings match.

    On Google Maps, I found the TP building in Warsaw. Zooming in I found the orientation of the street with the cars on it and drew back from there to the Southeast. using the surrounding buildings as a guide for what the view would be, I'm convinced I'm in the Google Poland Sp z.o.o at
    Emilii Plater 53
    00-001 Warsaw, Poland

    I think I'm on about the 13th floor, counting those across the streets from me. I've contacted a worker there for more specific information.

    ReplyDelete
  26. Uploading this picture to Google image search resulted in a picture of a cat, which seems perfectly reasonable under the circumstances.

    One of the buildings in the background has a "PZU" sign. Googling PZU, I find that it's an insurance company based in Poland. Googling PZU Building, I find a picture at http://www.emporis.com/building/pzutower-warsaw-poland matching the building in Warsaw. Another easily identifiable building is a Westin Hotel, so I look for Westin Hotel, Warsaw, Poland in Google Maps.

    The info for the hotel says it's only $84 a night, so I'll go down to street level from wherever I am, take a taxi to the hotel and ask the reception desk if I can have a package delivered to me there. If yes, I order my meds and come back on the day they're scheduled to arrive. If not, I'll rent a room for that day and order the meds.

    I would of course make a note of the address, floor number, and street address of the building I found myself in, for future reference.

    While I'm waiting for my meds, I'd get back on Google and see if I can pinpoint the location of the cat.

    ReplyDelete
  27. If this were really the view from my window, I'd be able to read what the sign at the top of the large building says.

    ReplyDelete
  28. It took me about thirty minutes using Google earth to get...

    Warsaw Financial Center
    Emilii Plater 53
    Warszawa, Poland

    on floor 16

    I used a combination of Wikipedia and Google Earth.

    ReplyDelete
  29. Google Poland
    Emilii Plater 53, 00-001 Warszawa, Poland
    +48 22 207 19 00

    I googled "Deloitte Westin PZU" and found PZU Tower Warsaw. Google Maps did the rest :)

    ReplyDelete
  30. just guessing - the 17th floor of the InterContinental Warsawa - Emilli Plater 49, Sródmiescie - rm. 1733. Looking at the TP S.A. Tower and the
    PZU Tower behind - Warsaw Poland. About 45 minutes - got the logo off the PZU building, then found the Telekomunikacja Polska tower - spent some fruitless time looking for a decent map and then ended up just speculating as I was out of time.... pass out from too many pierogis every time - where's that courier, Gwidon? thanks for the point to Andy S. - wasn't aware he was doing that.

    ReplyDelete
  31. I'd say we're around 52.23376,21.001436

    Building is:
    Google Poland Sp z o.o.‎
    Emilii Plater 53
    00-001 Warsaw, Poland

    I found that by zooming in on the building's logo. Didn't recognize it, so Google Image searched for "tp logo" till I found it. Found the company, then their office building. Googled that and found a matching picture. Plugged that into Google Maps and tried to find the street we'd be in.

    ReplyDelete
  32. It took me 2 seconds to find it, I googled "pzu &tp" the letters i saw in the photo. Then I got this page
    http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=pzu%20%26tp&source=web&cd=1&ved=0CCMQFjAA&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.panoramio.com%2Fphoto%2F5003457&ei=aK0pT9v9JKT50gHW97nZCg&usg=AFQjCNECUCPhoAuGDkKGJBkq5XNwcsPP0w&cad=rja

    Then I looked up the address...

    You're at: aleja jana pawta II and Tawarda St, Warsaw, Poland.

    http://maps.google.com/maps?hl=en&client=firefox-a&hs=lli&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&q=14/16+Twarda+Street,+Warszawa+poland&gs_sm=e&gs_upl=4333l4775l0l5128l3l3l0l0l0l0l143l325l2.1l3l0&bav=on.2,or.r_gc.r_pw.,cf.osb&biw=1327&bih=864&um=1&ie=UTF-8&ei=t60pT57gFcj30gGCrcm9Cg&sa=X&oi=mode_link&ct=mode&cd=3&ved=0CAoQ_AUoAg

    ReplyDelete
  33. Sorry if I'm not doing this right...

    Emilii Plater 53
    00-001 Warsaw, Poland
    22 207 19 00

    Googled the TP logo; Googled the TP Group building; found an image of the building matching that in your photo with city info; Google Mapped the city, building; found the appropriate vantage point based on other buildings.

    ReplyDelete
  34. Warsaw Financial Center
    Emilii Plater 53
    Warsaw, Poland

    I'm gonna guess I am in the Google offices: 00-113?
    Phone: +48 22 207 19 00
    Fax: +48 22 207 19 21

    I searched for PZU and found it was an insurance company in Poland. I looked them up on Google Maps. Then I looked for the nearest Westin to their offices. Then I found the tall circular building nearby using satellite view. I could also see the building with external AC units that looks to be about 7-8 stories tall. Next to that is the Warsaw Financial Center. Google has an office there so I just guessed that's where the picture is from.

    ReplyDelete
  35. Warsaw, Poland. At the Google offices at Emilii Plater 53, 00-001 Warszawa, Poland

    Initially was going to look through images of the Westin hotels, but then looked for PZU... Polish insurance company. Then looked up Westin in Warsaw, building matches. Then google maps of westin in Warsaw to figure out about where the building is... looking at the picture and satellite imagery for clues. Took about 5 minutes.

    ReplyDelete
  36. Emilii Plater 53 00-001 Warsaw, Poland is my guess. Took about 5 minutes. I googled the company (PZU.pl) and the first result took me to a map of Warsaw. A quick look at the map I found the Westin and the TP building. The line of sight matches the view of an office on perhaps the 15th floor in reference to the neighbouring buildings and the office is looking north face of the building, tending towards the northwest corner.

    ReplyDelete
  37. Google Poland Sp z oo
    Emilia Plater 53, 00-001 Warsaw, Poland
    +48 22 207 19 00

    I googled "TP PZU buildings", saw an image in Panoramio, went to Google Maps -> Warsaw, Poland, searched for TP Building in "Search Nearby", and triangulated.

    ReplyDelete
  38. And phone number, etc: http://maps.google.com/maps/place?q=Google+Poland+Sp+z+o.o.&cid=15718177721978753036

    ReplyDelete
  39. Nice touch, making it the Google offices of Poland.

    ReplyDelete
  40. This was taken from the Google Poland offices.
    Approach was to look up the logos on the buildings. The PZU gave it away as being in Warsaw Poland after going to their website since it was the first hit via google, and the second hit of their wikibedia article also helped.
    I was able to track down the tower as the Telekomunicacja Polska SA by also looking up the Westin in Warsaw and using google maps with street view and pictures to get the correct perspective of the 'sliced' cylinder next to it.
    The building in the right foreground is immediately next to and shorter than the Google Poland building and would have been blocked from view if the picture was taken from a building further away.

    ReplyDelete
  41. Doing a google search for the various towers, I was able to find the city and street... still working on everything else with Google Earth...

    ReplyDelete
  42. Its from the Google Poland building in Warsaw. The Egyptian flag is a red herring, but I found PZU was a big polish accounting firm, so I looked for Westin's in Warsaw. Found the round shaped building for "Tele.... Polska" and tried to judge approximately where this shot would be from

    ReplyDelete
  43. Google Warsaw
    Warsaw Financial Center
    Emilii Plater 53
    00-113 Warszawa
    Poland
    Phone: +48 22 207 19 00
    Fax: +48 22 207 19 21

    It took me about 5 minutes or so, my first real attempt at answering one of these.

    I loaded up the full-size image (after TinEye returned nothing, obviously) and started looking around.

    I saw the "PZU" on the building in the background and did a Google search for it, finding "Powszechny Zakład Ubezpieczeń" in Warsaw, Poland.

    Next, switch to Google maps and search for PZU in the Warsaw area. Change to satellite view and start zooming in. I outlined on paper what I thought the shape of the PZU building would look like from the air and figured out the orientation of the photo - looking about NNW.

    Using a piece of paper to line up the notch in the PZU building with the corner of the shorter building directly in front of it gave me a line of sight to the area of the streets Panska and Emilli Plater.

    Zooming in on the satellite view a bit more revealed that Google Poland has an office in that building, and I made the leap of faith that it was taken from there.

    Searching for "google poland office address" (a Meta-Google search?) led me to Googles company addresses about page.

    ReplyDelete
  44. You are somewhere in Google's Poland headquarters at "Emilii Plater 53 00-001 Warsaw, Poland" in the city of Warsaw.

    You are on at least the 14th floor.

    I first looked at the logos on the buildings in the background, and Googled "PZU". I discovered that the PZU group is an insurance firm based in Poland.

    Then, I went to Google Maps and searched for PZU in Warsaw, Poland. The satellite view showed a building that was similar in appearance to the building in the background of the photo, with a round "TP" (poland telecom) building in front of it.

    From there, I saw the apartment building in the foreground of the photo, and determined that the photo must have been taken from the Google building across the street. As the apartment has 13 floors, the photo must have been taken from above that height (as the roof can be seen), and, assuming similar floor heights and based on the angle, the photo was taken from approximately the 15th floor.

    Though I noticed the reflection of the blue neon light in the window through which the photo was taken, I was unable to use it in any way.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. The blue neon light in the reflection says Google. Further evidence that it was taken from inside a Google office.

      Delete
    2. nice catch on the neon reflection - very Bourne/Hollywood intelligence analyst.

      Delete
  45. Am I in the building that houses the Google Poland office in Warsaw?

    I first googled "tp", which is on the largest building in the picture, but that was far too generic. Then I saw Deloitte and the Westin hotel in the background, but again, not enough info there.

    Then I googled pZu and found that it's a major company in Warsaw. Looked up Warsaw, Poland in google maps, then searched for pZu. Found a pZu building and noticed the Deloitte office building next to a Westin hotel nearby. The tp building was also there. Then it was just a matter of looking at the pic and google maps to figure out which direction the pic is being taken from.

    This took about 10 mins.

    ReplyDelete
  46. This one was pretty easy. You are in the Google Poland SP offices, located at ‎
    Emilii Plater 53
    00-001 Warsaw, Poland
    22 207 19 00

    The phone number for the building is +48 22 207 19 00, and given the perspective, it appears that you are approximately on the 15th floor.

    I clicked through to the large version of the image above, where I noted the &tp logo. I did a Google Image search for that, which returned Telekomunikacja Polska. I did a Google Maps search for that, and in Satellite view, I saw what appeared to be the building. Street view was unavailable, but there were some photos of the Telekom Polska building. The angle of the photo and the height of the surrounding buildings made it seem that the Google Poland office building was the correct one. From there, all the listing info was easy to get direct from Google Maps.

    Easy peasy. Took me about 5 minutes.

    ReplyDelete
  47. The building at either:
    Świętokrzyska 34
    01-001 Warszawa, Poland
    OR
    Pańska 3
    01-001 Warszawa, Poland
    depending on which mapping service you use.

    Picture is taken facing northeast. I first figured out what the pZu logo was for, then searched for a building near a Westin. Once I figured out that it was Warsaw, and the general area, I looked at the map and saw the tp building. Was able to use basic geometry to figure out where the picture was taken, plus satellite view to confirm building heights. Took about 10 minutes - hardest part was figuring out the street address since I can't read Polish.

    ReplyDelete
  48. I'm in the Warsaw Financial Centre.

    Once I blew up the image in Photoshop to discern the logo on the building in the middle of the picture, I then did a search for tp logo. I looked through Google image search until I found a matching logo for Polish Telecom. I then searched for Polish Telecom building, and identified the building in question in Warsaw. From there I pulled up Google Maps and coordinated the location of the first building that blocked my view of what I could see in the picture. That building is the Warsaw Financial Centre.

    Since there are hundreds of offices in this building, including Google Poland, and there's no good way to tell for certain what floor I'm on in the picture, I'll just meet the courier in the lobby.

    ReplyDelete
  49. Google Warsaw
    Warsaw Financial Center
    Emilii Plater 53
    00-113 Warszawa
    Poland

    - searched for "PZU skyscraper" images, which did come back with a matching image
    - googled the address of the PZU tower in Warsaw
    - used google maps to figure out from which building one would have the view to the round skyscraper and the PZU tower

    ReplyDelete
  50. Warsaw Financial Center
    ul. Emilii Plater 53
    00-113 Warszawa

    Warsaw, Poland.

    The General building phone is +48 22 540 7000

    Not sure exactly what floor, although best guess from the view angle is mid 20-30's.


    I started by simply opening the larger view of the image, noticed the TP logo on the top of the main skyscraper in the image. Searched for TP Skyscraper in Google. Found a page detailing "tallest skyscrapers/buildings in the world" and thumbed through some of the pictures.

    Discovered it is called the TP SA Tower in Warsaw Poland.

    From there, it was just a matter of looking the map and figuring out which building had that particular angle; this was easy considering the distinct shapes of the other, smaller structures in the area.

    ReplyDelete
  51. meant to include this from A.S., found it insightful. re: View -
    http://youtu.be/iO3dEMlQybo

    (no HTML tags)?

    ReplyDelete
  52. Warsaw financial center.
    Emilii Plater 53
    00-113 Warszawa
    Warsaw Poland.

    My guess is you are in the Google offices and can be reached at this phone. +48 22 207 19 00

    Not sure on the floor but would guess the 13th.

    How I did it. Looked up where PZU was headquarted and then found a Westin hotel near by. Knowing those two points I used google maps and drew lines back to the financial center where Google Poland is located.

    ReplyDelete
  53. Googled: TP Logo (off the bldg in pic), found out the group name Telekomunikacja Polska. Wiki page for them says they are based in Warsaw. Google Maps - Warsaw. "Westin hotel Telekomunikacja Polska Warsaw" in Google Maps got me the correct building in the picture. Google Satellite view got my bearings. Found the building where the picture was taken, and Google Warsaw was pinpointed there, so I figured I must work for Google. :) About the 15th floor of the building?

    Google Warsaw
    Emilii Plater 53
    00-001 Warsaw, Poland
    22 207 19 00

    ReplyDelete
  54. Oh. It took me about 10 minutes once I could see the logo.

    ReplyDelete
  55. I found it in less than 5 minutes by searching for "TP logo" in google images.
    That got me the company name, "Telekomunikacja Polska Group", which I put into google maps.
    After confirming that the Westin hotel and the deloitte buildings were nearby, I was able to figure out the building where the photo was taken from.

    ReplyDelete
  56. You are at 52.233497,21.001326 or

    Google Poland
    Emilii Plater 53,
    00-001 Warszawa, Poland

    North side of the building looking northwest. I would guess that you are around the 15th or 16th floor.

    I found this by:
    Searching Google images for "TP building"
    https://www.google.com/search?q=tp+building&hl=en&prmd=imvns&source=lnms&tbm=isch&ei=rrEpT6yEL6mViQKgn_iaCg&sa=X&oi=mode_link&ct=mode&cd=2&sqi=2&ved=0CAwQ_AUoAQ&biw=952&bih=1067

    Then I got this image that said it was in Poland
    http://www.panoramio.com/photo/7331887

    I then put the coodrinates in google maps and started looking around until I found the "TP building" Judging by the reflection of the sun, I knew I was on the south side of the building.

    ReplyDelete
  57. would the building be:
    Google Poland Sp z o.o.
    Emilii Plater 53, 00-001 Warszawa, Poland
    +48 22 207 19 00
    If so it was found by searching Google for TP buildings and found a picture of the TP S.A. Tower and reviewed the images around the map to find out which buildings would have the angle to the view of that side of the building. It took about 10 minutes.

    ReplyDelete
  58. Got the first part in ~10 minutes:

    - Saw the flag-like graphic on the lower left of the image, so browsed through pictures of flags to find it -- no dice.
    - Noticed the logo atop the building. Searched "tp logo" (sans quotes) in Google Image Search to find that it's the logo for Telekomunikacja Polska (Polish Telecom).
    - Searched "Telekomunikacja Polska headquarters" to find it's in Warsaw.
    - Put "Telekomunikacja Polska" into Google maps, to have it autocomplete to "Telekomunikacja Polska S.A., Twarda, Warsaw, Polska" -- searched it to find the building pictured from the view.
    - Your view can be described by a line leading from the TP building through the low L-shaped building immediately E-SE from the building -- extrapolating the line gives us the address of the only tall building along that line:

    Emilii Plater 53
    01-001 Warszawa, Poland

    Putting "Emilii Plater 53" into Google gives us that it's the Warsaw Financial Center.

    Can't figure out the bonus part though!

    ReplyDelete
  59. You are at the Warsaw Financial Center, Emilii Plater 53 in Warsaw Poland. Likely on the 17th floor. There are a number of firms on the 17th floor, so I'm unsure which one faces the PZU building.

    I figured it out by searching for the PZU building since I noticed that. I tried &TP to no avail. Once I found that, it was as simple as triangulating it using google earth and counting the floors, assuming the person is looking straight ahead.

    ReplyDelete
  60. OK, so I think I'm at the Warsaw Financial Center (Emilii Plater 53, Warsaw). I searched on Google Images for "tp", recognized the logo, found out about TP tower, searched on Google Maps and decided that this was the most likely building where you could also see the Westin and the PZU buildings. Since Google Maps also told me that the Google Poland offices are in this building (and you just happen to work for Google), I'm guessing I'm looking out the window of floors 8, 9 or 10? This took me about 10 minutes or so... I will keep looking to see if I can figure out the office number/phone...

    ReplyDelete
  61. I'm at Google Poland Sp z o.o. (Address: Emilii Plater 53, 00-001 Warszawa, Poland).

    First, I downloaded the image (I guess this is cheating, since, if I woke up and saw this site with my own two eyes, there would be no image file -- I guess I could take a picture, but....) and did a reverse image search on Google Images by uploading the file. This was a dead end.

    Next, I inspected the image closely for anything that looked unique. I saw "PZU" on a building. Did a google search, and found the name of the company.

    Then, I did a google image search for "PZU" and found the building with the same shape as outside of my window. Now, I am able to identify the city I'm in as Warsaw.

    Next, I panned to Warsaw, Poland in google maps and tried to triangulate my position by using the PZU building, the Westin building, the Deloitte building, and finally, the SA TP building.

    Using my basic spatial skills and google maps, I was able to determine my exact location!

    :)

    ReplyDelete
  62. Poland, Warsav. I found that by searching names of companies from the towers + keyword "city".

    Wikipedia told me that is TP S.A. Tower right in front of me which adress is "Twarda street 16"

    PZU tower address is "aleja Jana Pawła II 24" according to wikipedia also.

    By looking at google maps satellite view and photo of those two buildings and ...

    HEY. I'm in Google Poland office and you can call me at +48 22 207 19 00. Adress is "Emilii Plater 53"

    ReplyDelete
  63. I checked out the picture for textual hints.
    I found: Westin, l pt and PZU.

    I gave PZU a shot because it seemed the best choice.
    Wikipedia told me that PZU is a polish insurance company.
    So a tiny Google Image search with PZU Warschau let me to:
    http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Datei:PZU_Warschau_DSC1633.JPG#filelinks

    So I guess I'm in the telecommunications-building right in the middle of the map:
    http://maps.google.de/maps?q=pzu+Warschau,+Polen&hl=de&ll=52.2342,21.00028&spn=0.004803,0.013937&sll=49.009148,8.379944&sspn=0.32924,0.891953&oq=pzu+&hq=pzu&hnear=Warschau,+Warszawa,+Woiwodschaft+Masowien,+Polen&t=h&z=17&iwloc=11998241641467780338

    Took me 'bout 10 min (incl. writing this text)

    Cheers
    Tobias

    ReplyDelete
  64. My best guess (after about 20 minutes) is that this is the view from the Intercontinental Hotel in Warsaw (given the location of the PZU building, the Westin doesn't work). First found Telekom Poslka's headquarters at Warsaw. Confirmed that Deloitte's Poland office is there as well, and it's address. Confirmed location of PZU building and looked for hotels that could be at the right angle for the photo to make sense. Can't begin to guess what floor of the hotel, though.

    ReplyDelete
  65. You're in Warszawa!
    More specifically:
    Emilii Plater 53, 00-001 Warszawa, Poland, in the Google Poland Building

    Started off searching for the logo on the large building front and center...was thrown off initially by the twirl in front of the real letters, but ended up with the tp logo found by a google image search:
    http://tinyurl.com/79lyfrs

    Next, hovering over the logo image, I found that the logo most likely belonged to the company Telekomunikacja Polska. An initial search of the company name didn't yield anything great, but searching for "Telekomunikacja Polska building" yielded a link to a possible "tower" with that company name (the second link from the top)
    http://tinyurl.com/6s27xr6

    Clicking on "satellite image" near the map of the area gave me this:
    http://tinyurl.com/7p4jsur
    Which, because I'm more accustomed to google maps, I promptly copied the Lat/Long into google maps here:
    http://tinyurl.com/6p89xcg

    Upon zooming and examination of the area, and comparing to the image from the search, one identified the vantage point to be from the building to the southeast of the TP building, which should be our location! Right clicking on said building and clicking "What's Here?" reveals the address and a list of businesses occupying the building...Google is third from the top!

    For extra credit, I can imagine one could reach me at google's phone number there (+48 22 207 19 00, just click on the google business link on the aforementioned "What's Here?" query), but I'm unsure where to go from here as far as finding the office number and floor...unless of course we assume I'm hiding on the google floor...

    Total time spent on the search: ~15 minutes (though I think my amnesia might have hindered my efforts...)

    ReplyDelete
  66. The Egyptian flag at the far down and left was a little bit misleading. After a minute I did a wiki search for companies abbreviated by TP. And the was Poland Telecommunication there with the logo that we have in photo!
    Just a few more searches to locate Westin hotel in Warsaw, and PZU. I marked them all in map here: http://maps.google.com/maps/ms?msid=205278241309494720795.0004b7ee1024b8e33f933&msa=0

    Just a little bit more calibration on the map and look who is there at Emilii Plater 53
    00-001 Warsaw, Poland and the phone number 22 207 19 00
    So please bring the medicine since I am not going to go for another episode of amnesia at Google's Poland office.

    ReplyDelete
  67. I'm at the Warsaw Financial Center located in 53, Emilii Plater Street.
    I first started to look for visual clues in the photo. I've noticed the PZU symbol and googled it. I found that it is a Polish insurance company. Looking at it's address for main office and using Google Earth I found the place. It took a bit of orientation from the pic to guess that I'm probably at the Warsaw Financial Center. In the picture I can see some reflections of the Google logo and looking at Google office location in Poland immediately pointed that it's located at the Warsaw Financial Center. Phone number is +48 22 207 19 00. The only missing information is what floor am I in. I could not find this information on the web but from the picture I can tell that I'm about 1-2 floors higher than the immediate building. Looking at Google Earth 3D buildings I'm guessing somewhere in the range of floor 15.
    Everything took about 1 hour of search.

    ReplyDelete
  68. Picture was taken from the Warszawskie Centrum Finansowe building in Warsaw, Poland. If I had to guess, I would say that the picture was takem from the 15th floor. I searched Bing images for the logo of the building in the forefront. I found that the logo belonged to a company called Telekomunikacja Polska that was based in Warsaw. I got the address from there website and pulled it up in Bing Maps. Took me about 10 minutes.

    ReplyDelete
  69. So, I start by identifying the two companies PZU and equant. PZU is polish, so I search on gmaps for equant poland. This leads me to the city of Warszawa.

    For some reason, equant as a business does not help to find the location. So I search for deloitte, and find the round structure of the equant nearby.

    No street view, so I now try to rely on the map pictures, and guess I am in the "ti amo" building on street Świętokrzyska 34

    ReplyDelete
  70. Building that you're looking at is the Telekomunikacja Polska S.A tower. Given the orientation I think that you're in the Warsaw Financial Centre, which is at Emilii Plater 53.

    The smaller block off to the right of the image (residential block?) is 13 stories high and you're able to see the roof, so I would imagine you're on the 14th or 15th floor. Best guess is you're in the office of DLA Piper (14th floor), telephone +48 22 540 74 00.

    ReplyDelete
  71. PZU >> PZU Website >> Located in Poland >> Search for "Westin Poland" (Westin hotel left side of image) >> Link to Westin Warsaw >> Google Map of Westin Warsaw >> Matches hotel in photo >> Right of Westin Warsaw is the building in the center and the PZU building >> "Search Nearby" for "lekarz (doctor in Polish)" >> 3 different facilities (Malo Clinic, Psychotherapist and Internal Medicine) >> Based on angles the Psychotherapist is the right one.

    Psycholog - Psychoterapia - Gabinet prywatny
    Pańska 5, Śródmieście, 00-938 Warszawa, Poland 170 m SE
    +48 784 557 084 () ‎ · szkolaradosci.pl

    ReplyDelete
  72. http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/716/googlemr.jpg/
    is that cclose enough? :D

    Google Warsaw
    Warsaw Financial Center
    Emilii Plater 53
    00-113 Warszawa
    Poland

    I`m from warsaw so that wasn't to difficult :P

    ReplyDelete
  73. It took me about 8 minutes:

    Google Warsaw
    Warsaw Financial Center
    Emilii Plater 53
    00-113 Warszawa
    Poland
    Phone: +48 22 207 19 00
    Fax: +48 22 207 19 21

    That was kind of fun. I started by searching for westin and pzu, then moved over to image search, thinking that I could identify the TP building in a picture from the Westin. I realized the futility of this in a few seconds, then added SA to my search, found that it's the TPSA tower in the foreground, found it and Westin on Google maps, lined them up about as they are in the picture and saw that there's a building with Google office right there. I'm guessing that I'd actually want them sent to the Google office. I wasn't able to get a suite number, but Google is on floors 8 & 10. Maybe I should have it sent to the management office.

    I'd probably just ask the person next to me, though.

    ReplyDelete
  74. Must be the Google office on the 10th floor of Warsaw Financial Center at Emilii Plater 53, 00-113 Warszawa, Poland.

    Google office because there is a reflection of Goog neon sign in the window glass matching the colors of the official Google logo (blue, red, yellow, blue). 10th floor because the seemingly residential building across the street (bottom right side of the photo) has about 13 floors (counted them on Google maps satellite view) and from this view point, the top of the the that building is visible, although commercial buildings have taller floors that residential ones. And commercial buildings have rather tall ground floors for large airy and spacious lobbies.

    Started by googling "PZU" and found out its a polish company, then googled "tp poland" and found it to be Telekomunikacja Polska. googled both on google maps in warsaw (guess) and found each building with the help or panoramio pictures augmenting the search results. Both buildings visible in those profiles from about 2 blocks to the south east. Found Google Poland marker around suspected location. Googled that an got the Emilii Plater 53 address. Google the address and looked through the WFC site. Google is a tennant on the 10th and 8th floor but the view seems a little tall for the 8th floor. Counted floor of the buildings across the street on google maps satellite view and the left building has 10 floors and the right building has 13 floors. They looked like residential buildings .Residential floors or stories in europe are a bit taller than US stories (personal experience) but still shorter than most office building floors/stories. Lets say commercial floors are 40% taller and account for likely double height 1st floor lobby, 10th floor of office building should equate to 15th floor or residential building. This must be the 10th floor google office since the top of the 13-story residential building is easily visible and the view seems to be even with approximately the 11th floor of the TP building. According to Wikipedia, the first 6 floors are for parking so they are likely to be at least as tall as commercial building story.

    ~ 30 minutes. no time to hunt for office number.

    ReplyDelete
  75. First of all. It can't be the Google office and I will tell you why. I used a similar method to others.

    First I zoomed in looking for language indicators as to the region. I recognized the spelling on the billboard on the bottom of the image just right of center and new that it was Poland. I then googled "PZU Poland" and found out that their headquarters was in Warsaw. Using Google earth I new that the building was roughly South of the PZU building(Sat dishes point South west). Google earth brought of a nice image of the Warsaw financial center. Emilii Plater 53 00-113 Warszawa
    Poland. Googling Warsaw Financial center brings up the buildings sight and tenants. Google is there but on floor 8 and 10. The building in the right of the image has 12 floors (Google maps pictures). This shot was clearly taken from higher than that. The TP S.A. Tower has 30 floors above ground. Since we are looking roughly at the midpoint I would say we were between floor 14-17.
    However since I need my meds to go to a specific place, I think I will send them to the leasing office on the 25th floor and take the elevator up to get them. Leasing office phone number is +48 22 540 7000

    This took roughly 20 minutes.

    ReplyDelete
  76. I WOULD SAY IT WAS TAKEN
    InterContinental Warsaw
    Emilii Plater 49, Warszawa, Poland
    +48 22 328 88 88 ‎

    14TH FLOOR

    People are giving you what the view is of not where you are at.

    So i would say have the medicine dropped off at the front desk and have them ring you when it arrives.

    ReplyDelete
  77. I'm in Warsaw, Poland at Google Poland (Emilii Plater 53, 00-001 Warsaw, Poland (Google Poland Sp z o.o.)

    Method:
    1. Three things to see from the provided image:
    a. &TP company logo on top of building
    b. pZu copmany logo in the distance
    c. Deloitte sign off to the left.

    2. Using Google Image Search see: https://www.google.com/search?tbm=isch&hl=en&source=hp&biw=1445&bih=713&q=%26tp&gbv=2&oq=%26tp&aq=f&aqi=g-C10&aql=&gs_sm=e&gs_upl=1534l1915l0l2146l3l3l0l0l0l0l80l170l3l3l0#hl=en&gbv=2&tbm=isch&sa=1&q=tp&pbx=1&oq=tp&aq=f&aqi=g10&aql=&gs_sm=e&gs_upl=2681l2772l0l2997l2l2l0l0l0l0l100l181l1.1l2l0&fp=1&biw=1445&bih=713&bav=on.2,or.r_gc.r_pw.r_cp.,cf.osb&cad=b

    - Was able to discover that &TP is Telekomunikacja Polska Group

    3. Moving to Google Maps
    - Entering Telekomunikacja Polska Group we can verify the building
    - using directions to Deloitte / pZu help orient our location

    ReplyDelete
  78. http://imgur.com/E3TfY

    It's almost like looking out the window yourself ;P

    ReplyDelete
  79. Took about 10minutes to locate the address/name of building, but still having a hard time find the exact office# after an hour of searching...: (

    The building the picture was taken in is:
    Warsaw Financial Center
    Warszawskie Centrum Finansowe
    ul. Emilii Plater 53
    00-113 Warszawa, COB / CBD

    I do realize Google.pl is located in the building, 8-10th floor, and a lot of people have suggested that based on your profile, I'm assuming. However, from looking at your picture. I would say you are located between floor 14-15, at the office in the most northwest location, through the window closest to the west of the building facing north.

    The way I figured it out:
    1) simple image search of "TP office building" easily located pictures of the skyscraper in your picture, which happened to include address on website result.
    2) Google map search and analyzing of your picture pointed me to the WFC building, which on google maps had a convenient info box to Google.pl office's address/number
    Now the hard part begins...
    3) Was able to find the official WFC website through the address search, found the floor plan/tenant list, found pictures of the north side of the WFC building from the outside, noticed windows are small. Also from your picture, from the angles of the buildings and the TP office building, you must be located at the very west tip of the a floor facing north. Counting the floor numbers in your picture, with an assumption that floor heights are roughly similar between skyscrapers in Poland, I counted you were most even-eyed with floors 14-15.
    4) Unfortunately, I was unable to find the office numbers corresponding to the floor plans...: ( Could not localize the office, hence phone number as well. Either Garrigues vs DLA Piper I guess?

    Anyways, was fun! Hopefully I was correct instead of going for the easy Google office answer!

    ReplyDelete
  80. After searching again, I see that I was off a little. As this is my first time to give this a shot, I decided to read the comments to see just how far off I was. I was impressed with myself on how fast I found out the buildings in the pic were in Warsaw (about 1 minute) and from what direction the picture was taken. I can't believe I didn't use the satellite view in Maps! Oh well. I learned some while searching (total time about 30 minutes) and learned even more by reading the comments about how others found the answer. This really is a lot of fun! I am really looking forward to next Wednesday's search challenge.

    ReplyDelete
  81. Warsaw Financial Center
    Emili Plater 53
    Warsaw, Poland

    I'm guessing I'm at the Google office there, the phone nubmer for which is 222071900.

    Started by searching for "Cylinder shaped buildings", too broad.

    Then I noticed the TP at the top of the building and tried "Cylinder shaped building tp". No good.

    Then I noticed what looked like a Q in front of the TP, and tried "cylinder shaped building qtp". Even though that was wrong, I got an image result from Flickr. That gave me the location where it was taken (Warsaw), and it was off go Google Maps.

    Searched the map for "Twarda, Warsaw, Poland", which was a street I got from the Flickr photo. I found the building on the map and figured out my direction based on its orientation (the building is very asymmetrical).

    The only building it could be was the Warsaw Financial Center (it's so large that if I weren't in that building it would have to be visible in the photo). Got the address, and Google kindly noted that it had an office in the building.

    Took me a half hour.

    ReplyDelete
  82. I started by Googling "tp logo" which gave me Telekomunikacja Polska. A Google maps search then gave me Warsaw. I added Westin and Deloitte to the map to triangulate the building location which gave Google Poland. Looking up the office locations on Google's own pages gives the Warsaw Financial Center at Emilii Plater 53 00-001 Warsaw, Poland. WFC's website tenant list gives Google's floors as being 8/10. But by counting the floors in the building just across the street from Google Poland on Google maps satellite view, I'm guessing the 8th floor Google offices.

    ReplyDelete
  83. Searched "tp logo" on Google images to find it was Telekomunikacja Polska.

    Searched "Telekomunikacja Polska tower" to find the Wikipedia link with picture, identifying it the TP S.A. Tower, located in Warsaw with the address of 14/16 Twarda Street. Finding out the "where" was very easy, and took only a minute.

    Searched "14/16 Twarda Street, Warsaw, Poland" in Google Maps, then using satellite view to identify other nearby buildings, including the one from which the picture was likely taken.

    Identified the building by the note on the Google office as being at Emilii Plater 53.

    Searched Emilii Plater 53, and found out it was the Warsaw Financial Building.

    Searched Warsaw Financial Building, went to the building's website - could guess at tenants by floor from there, but could not match photo on the sites of likely candidates. Also could not match anyone's blog/Flickr album note by searching "view of TP S.A. Tower from Warsaw Financial Center.

    Fun challenge!

    ReplyDelete
  84. Unfortunately the reflected logo seems to have been photoshopped due to the 2 different planes in the glass reflecting the same angle.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Well... I can assure you that I didn't photoshop it. I took the picture and didn't modify it. The view out the window really looks like that (it's double-paned windows).

      Delete
  85. I am at the Gimnazjum at Twarda Street. Saved the photo and zoomed to identify landmarks. Saw Westin and Deloitte near each other. Also saw PZU. PZU is in Warsaw. Did google search for Deloitte Warsaw and also searched for Westin Warsaw. Their address is Jana Pawla 2. Went to maps.google. Saw TP, PZU, Deloitte and Westin near each other. Saw that on the photo, Deloitte and Westin are on the left; TP and PZU are center. That seems to be the view from Gimnazjum.

    ReplyDelete
  86. Took me less than a minute - I spotted the reflection in the window saying Go*g*** and figured it out from there. It would have been a lot harder if it hadn't been posted by a Google employee.

    The only steps I needed to verify was type "google poland" into Bing, err, Yahoo, err Google and check the street view.

    ReplyDelete
  87. I zoomed in on the picture and found a sign down at street level which appeared to be Polish. ("...szkorvie"). Then I made an educated guess (cheating?) that this was taken from the Google Poland offices, so I searched for "Google warsaw office". That took me to Gmaps, where I confirmed the view was from the same building.

    ReplyDelete
  88. I'm sure the office is in the Warsaw Financial Center, based on Google Maps and Google Earth. I'd agree that the office is likely Google's, probably the 10th floor. The photo looks over the top of a 12 story building on the near right. The angle is about equal to the height of the Budynek przy Polska in the distance and that's around 16-17 floors high. The first floor of the WCF Tower is actually the 7th floor, according to the WFC site, so that would put the office somewhere between 15 and 17. The reflection of the Google "g" on the Tower in the distance is probably from inside Google's office. Without a photo of the interior of Google's offices, the rest is still conjecture.
    Google Warsaw
    Warsaw Financial Center
    Emilii Plater 53
    00-113 Warszawa
    Poland
    Phone: +48 22 207 19 00
    Fax: +48 22 207 19 21

    ReplyDelete
  89. To be specific, the picture was shot from the 10th floor of the Warsaw Financial Center, and from the North East corner of the building at an altitude of +/- 518 feet above sea level. This happens to be +/- 134 feet above ground level and using the information on http://www.emporis.com/building/warsawfinancialcenter-warsaw-poland specifically the roof height and the number of floors above ground I came up with 13.4 feet / floor, or, the 10th floor.

    Using Google Earth and the building location as determined numerously above, I adjusted the view of the map to match that of the photo and arrived at a location very near the North East corner office on the 10th floor of the Warsaw Financial Center.Specifically the more or less triangular shaped office on the right side as shown here: http://pdf.savills.com/documents/WarsawFinancialCenter.pdf (this was found by searching for ["Warsaw Financial Center" "Floor Plan" ]

    This was fun! I intend to do more of these.

    Thank you,

    ReplyDelete
  90. To be specific, the picture was shot from the 10th floor of the Warsaw Financial Center, and from the North East corner of the building at an altitude of +/- 518 feet above sea level. This happens to be +/- 134 feet above ground level and using the information on http://www.emporis.com/building/warsawfinancialcenter-warsaw-poland specifically the roof height and the number of floors above ground I came up with 13.4 feet / floor, or, the 10th floor.

    Using Google Earth and the building location as determined numerously above, I adjusted the view of the map to match that of the photo and arrived at a location very near the North East corner office on the 10th floor of the Warsaw Financial Center.Specifically the more or less triangular shaped office on the right side as shown here: http://pdf.savills.com/documents/WarsawFinancialCenter.pdf (this was found by searching for ["Warsaw Financial Center" "Floor Plan" ]

    This was fun! I intend to do more of these.

    Thank you,

    ReplyDelete
  91. That was fun :)
    I saved the photo, zoomed in and found PZU, Westin, Deloitte and the TP buildings. I searched the Westin Hotels website for locations and found too many hotels to make this line of enquiry efficient. Next I searched on "TZU" and found it was in Poland. Now back to the Westin Hotels location page to find there is one hotel in Warsaw. Now to Google maps; I used "Westin Hotel, Warsaw" as a search term and then found the directions to Deloitte. This gave me a vector on the map to orientate myself. I flipped the map to face West, discovered the building and then cracked a wry smile to find myself looking at Google Poland in the Warsaw Financial Centre. I got the phone number by searching for "Google office locations".

    Emilii Plater 53
    00-113 Warszawa
    Poland
    Phone: +48 22 207 19 00
    Fax: +48 22 207 19 21

    ReplyDelete
  92. Fun! I first opened the picture in the browser to see an enlarged version of the image which could also be zoomed in. I looked closely for useful information, used the PZU building as a starting point for the search which revealed the location, Warsaw, and the nearby buildings (TP-SA Tower, the Westin Hotel, etc). I downloaded Google Earth and rotated the map which made it easier to figure out the building where the picture was taken. The building is the Warsaw Financial Center (WFC).

    From there and as per the exercise instructions (ie, use only the picture to solve), I considered the following: a) reflection: hard to read, looks like the image is doubled and it is hard to tell with precision even enlarging the image - crosschecked the list of tenants in WFC's main site for possible matches; b) going further: researched google for [directory "warsaw financial center" site:wfc.pl]. Found in the results a site that shows a diagram of the WFC with total number of floors and availability for rent. It is useful as it shows the floors vertically and numbers them. Looking at Google earth and comparing the height of the apartment building (which in the picture is in the right bottom corner) with the Warsaw Financial Center, I estimated that the top of the apartment building was at the same level as the 8th floor of the WFC. Since the roof of the apartment building is visible in the picture, although not by much, I figured the office where the picture was taken had to be above the 8th floor but not so much higher. Looking again at the list of tenants and directory and comparing the names of the companies and relative floors with the word visible in the reflection, Google appears as the more likely match. From there, used Google to find number.

    ReplyDelete
  93. Really fun to do but I have to say that my first option was to check my cell phone and to view my location not searching for it,.... I'm sorry... but I did complete the task... Thank you... my students are going to love it.

    ReplyDelete
  94. yeeeeee finally i got it
    image search - S A tower - google map- probable photo shoot location- found
    Warsaw Financial Center

    53 Emilii Plater str. (21st floor)
    00-113, Warsaw, Poland

    (+48) 22 540 73 80
    (+48) 22 540 73 81

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Glad to see there are still people working on this! Nice job.

      Delete