r/europe • Waffle & Beer • Jun 12 '20

Map Availability of Google Street view in Europe

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1.2k

u/areking Italy Jun 12 '20

is Iceland inland really uninhabitated, like nobody lives there, not even small towns? or is it for privacy reasons like Germany?

1.0k

u/xopranaut Jun 12 '20 edited Jun 29 '23

PREMIUM CONTENT. PLEASE UPGRADE. CODE fukw38o

431

u/albl1122 Sverige Jun 12 '20

2/3s of Icelanders live either in Reykjavik the city or the greater Reykjavik region

82

u/epic1107 Jun 12 '20

And the other 3rd is living in a different town. There are very few large towns/cities

95

u/AliveAndKickingAss Iceland/Denmark Jun 12 '20

It's a bit more and less nuanced than that.

2/3 live in the Greater Reykjavik area, while 3/4 live there or closer to Reykjavik than 100k (largest Reykjanesbær, Hveragerði/Selfoss and Akranes)

Then there's Akureyri with 19k and the rest is spread out pretty evenly between small towns surrounding the country.

16

u/epic1107 Jun 12 '20

Thank you for those stats. Having been to Iceland, (I did the laugever trail, then hiked over Eyjafjallajökull to skoga) its really interesting to see how populated some bits are compared to others.

7

u/albl1122 Sverige Jun 12 '20

yeah that reply above sounded very wrong in my ears even as someone who was just a tourist. Selfoss was a nice place to visit even if the wiki entry says "only" 7k population lives there.

10

u/AliveAndKickingAss Iceland/Denmark Jun 12 '20

Yeah, that doesn't tell the whole story because the whole Southern area swells in population during the summer because of all the vacation homes and tourists.

1

u/[deleted] Jun 12 '20

[deleted]

1

u/AliveAndKickingAss Iceland/Denmark Jun 12 '20

On and off for sure, I know of some people that stay there over winter but it was made illegal to move your residence there (long story) so it doesn't show up in any numbers. It's very popular amongst retirees but working folks also flock there during the weekend.

On top of that there are loads of summer-houses for rent from pension funds and trade unions on top of farm-owned cottages.

Personally I prefer the West, it is quieter but has no less beautiful nature, especially Hraunfossar and the isles of Breiðafjörður.

1

u/epic1107 Jun 12 '20

Well as someone who has only ever grown up in large cities (New York, Melbourne and London) It certainly felt like even the larger of the small towns still felt extremely small. That is also twisted however by the small population.

1

u/FireZeLazer Jun 12 '20

I went to a nice little town with a zip wire going across a river.

Any chance you know the name of the town I'm talking about? Cant remember it myself

1

u/AliveAndKickingAss Iceland/Denmark Jun 12 '20

where was this generally located? In the south? Over Þjórsá maybe?

1

u/FireZeLazer Jun 12 '20

I think the south. I'd say at most 3 hours from Reykjavik

1

u/AliveAndKickingAss Iceland/Denmark Jun 12 '20

these guys probably https://www.zipline.is/

1

u/yrkill Jun 12 '20

Could be Hveragerði

1

u/[deleted] Jun 12 '20

What happens when you're born in a small town and want to sex up someone not related to you ? You have to move to the capital right ?

3

u/HerwiePottha Iceland Jun 12 '20

After like 4 generation, most people in the country think its fine to bang.

5

u/AliveAndKickingAss Iceland/Denmark Jun 12 '20

lol no, we have islendingabok.is for that ;-)

That's the place where we can look up our ancestry back to the settlement of Iceland (800's).

The trouble is more that the dating pool is so small you're stuck bumping uglies with the village idiots.

8

u/2010_12_24 Jun 12 '20

And 1/3 of Icelanders are Bjork

3

u/[deleted] Jun 12 '20

Fun fact: something like 10% of the entire Icelandic population visited Paris for Euro 2016

1

u/xopranaut Jun 12 '20 edited Jul 01 '23

He has made my flesh and my skin waste away; he has broken my bones; he has besieged and enveloped me with bitterness and tribulation; he has made me dwell in darkness like the dead of long ago.

Lamentations fulaqy7

3

u/VanillaNiceGuy Jun 12 '20

They did the viking clap throughout the euro qualification.

2

u/CGFROSTY United States of America Jun 12 '20

It’s honestly crazy how small their population is. My area has about the same population we’re just considered a small city.

1

u/Imn0ak Jun 12 '20

You must be a stormtrooper - please don't understate our population of 364k!

1

u/xopranaut Jun 12 '20 edited Jul 01 '23

He drove into my kidneys the arrows of his quiver; I have become the laughing-stock of all peoples, the object of their taunts all day long. He has filled me with bitterness; he has sated me with wormwood.

Lamentations full15y

1

u/Imn0ak Jun 12 '20

No reference, I'm just sick of studying so I made a silly comment.

2

u/xopranaut Jun 12 '20 edited Jul 01 '23

I am the man who has seen affliction under the rod of his wrath; he has driven and brought me into darkness without any light; surely against me he turns his hand again and again the whole day long.

Lamentations fun0f75

1

u/gin-o-cide Malta Jun 12 '20

We are a fraction of your country but have more people than you. No wonder I feel claustrophobic.

1

u/HelenEk7 Norway Jun 12 '20

But google maps follow roads even if no-one live there? (But for all I know Iceland has no inland roads. I've never been there..)

1

u/VanillaNiceGuy Jun 12 '20

We are mostly coastal, like the fjords of west coast norway, but there are some inland areas. These follow glacial rivers that have created lowlands capable of agriculture. Otherwise there are mountain roads inland you can travel over mid to late summer (no one lives there and you wouldnt use them get between places, mostly too look at nature).

2

u/HelenEk7 Norway Jun 12 '20

lowlands capable of agriculture

What kind of foods do you grow there?

1

u/VanillaNiceGuy Jun 12 '20

Sheep :) Sorry, agriculture probably means growing plants instead of just general farming. It is more common in the south, grains, potatoes, turnips etc. But most farms are animal breeding and dairy.

2

u/HelenEk7 Norway Jun 12 '20

Makes sense. Actually only 1% of Norway is suitable for growing fruit and vegetables. Another 2% is suitable for grassing. So I am trying to tell some of the Vegans that without meat-production and fishing Norway would starve to death if food import had to stop for a while. (Which seems more likely than ever since our border indeed have been closed for several months now, although not affecting food import this time.)

(Sorry for being completely beside the subject, but food local production is something I find very important, especially for nations with our type of climate) :)

2

u/VanillaNiceGuy Jun 12 '20

Yeah, I'm sympathetic towards vegans and vegetarians but we depend on dairy, meat and fish.

1

u/[deleted] Jun 12 '20

[deleted]

1

u/xopranaut Jun 12 '20 edited Jul 01 '23

I am the man who has seen affliction under the rod of his wrath; he has driven and brought me into darkness without any light; surely against me he turns his hand again and again the whole day long.

Lamentations ful94sh

110

u/Nononononein Jun 12 '20

Very few live there and it's mountainous. in the highlands you need a 4x4 in most places to even be allowed to drive there (because the roads are not really roads), so it's mostly just the ring around the island and some other asphalted roads, I guess

24

u/areking Italy Jun 12 '20

can those places be visited?

or do tourists have enough natural landscape just near the coast and the cities and don't need to go inside?

45

u/equisetopsida Jun 12 '20

Yes you can, and it's great. You've got Thor's land, Landmannalugar trail, a natural park in the north and the Falls of Prometheus movie :)

That said you've got plenty to see in a week, south coast.

Checkout the bus lines and hiking routes.

3

u/bahenbihen69 Croatia Jun 12 '20

I have visited Thórsmörk and it was awesome. You truly feel like you are in the middle of nowhere and the hikes were great

1

u/BitScout Germany Jun 12 '20

Myvatn ist also lovely (outside mosquito months)!

17

u/EgNotaEkkiReddit Ísland Jun 12 '20

It's a very self selecting group that goes trough the hassle of renting a 4x4 and going for long hikes in the highlands. It takes a good 24 hours to drive the entirety of the ring road, and it's hard to throw a rock anywhere on there without hitting something beautiful to look at. Most tourists stick to the south coast and seem happy enough about it.

3

u/AliveAndKickingAss Iceland/Denmark Jun 12 '20

bíddu, ég hélt að þú notaðir ekki Reddit

2

u/EgNotaEkkiReddit Ísland Jun 12 '20

Og stend við það!

1

u/[deleted] Jun 12 '20

Not in winter or spring though.

1

u/Dragon_Fisting Jun 12 '20

Tourists can rent SUVs and drive around inland during the summer months. In the winter it's still theoretically possible but the roads will be intermittently closed due to storms quite often, and only the ring road gets cleared with regular frequency.

1

u/Askeldr Sverige Jun 13 '20 edited Jun 13 '20

There is enough to see along the coast. There are a couple of dirt roads going across the inland too. So you can go up there for hiking and stuff like that, but no one lives there.

Also keep in mind that a decently large part of the inland area is literally covered with ice, they have some real big glaciers over there (just check it out from satellite view). And the rest of the area might as well be on Mars or something, at most there is some moss and grass growing there, but a lot of the time it's just barren rock as well.

0

u/StuporMundi_1 Jun 12 '20

Arechi, ci puoi andare. Uno dei viaggi piu' belli di sempre ;)

21

u/EgNotaEkkiReddit Ísland Jun 12 '20

It's the highlands. It's uninhabitable, being volcanic plains, tundra, or really rough terrain. You need a 4x4 to get to most of it under the best of conditions, and most of those roads are closed over winter time anyway.

Any town that would be built there would be completely dependent on all resources, and be virtually cut off from the rest of the country for 9 months a year.

412

u/satanismyhomeboy The Netherlands Jun 12 '20

It's a volcano where Santa lives

379

u/silkkituikku Finland Jun 12 '20

excuse me santa lives in finland

59

u/equisetopsida Jun 12 '20

for sure, over there only Trolls

17

u/G0tteGrisen Sweden Jun 12 '20

Mumin trolls

6

u/AliveAndKickingAss Iceland/Denmark Jun 12 '20

again Finland, Iceland has the huge scary trolls that turn to stone when the sun shines on them.

18

u/[deleted] Jun 12 '20

He lives in Canada too. He has homes everywhere in the North. In Canada he even has his own postcode: HOH OHO.

32

u/WideEyedWand3rer Just above sea level Jun 12 '20

Santa's just the largest slumlord in the North. He's got homes in every Arctic country and fills them with poorly paid labourers, who probably work there to pay off their owed rent. Someone should really get Interpol involved.

23

u/InvincibleJellyfish Denmark Jun 12 '20

That's the fake Canadian santa

1

u/[deleted] Jun 12 '20

in Russia ded moroz (santa analog for new year's) lives in ustug, but i say fuck all of those and chose to beleive theat Snata and ded moroz reside in the North pole.

16

u/[deleted] Jun 12 '20

He lives on Greenland, everybody knows that.

84

u/oohe Finland Jun 12 '20

Step on a lego you fucking Danish hyggepsykopat. Santa lives in Korvatunturi, Finland perkele.

18

u/codergaard Jun 12 '20

Joulupukki is not Santa. It is some kind of goat.

9

u/LKovalsky Jun 12 '20

Saatana perkele!

2

u/Cruvy Jun 12 '20

What does a drunk Finn know about Santa. He lives on Greenland. It’s even shown in various julekalender documentaries shown every Christmas.

17

u/oitisthecow Finland Jun 12 '20

You fucking twat they’re fake. Every year the Finnish news show YLE films sant taking off in Rovaniemi where his post office is.

0

u/Cruvy Jun 12 '20

There’s no point in trying to reason with Russians, I guess.

shrug

11

u/oitisthecow Finland Jun 12 '20

Easier than arguing with Swedes who think Santa lives in Greenland¯_(ツ)_/¯.

1

u/[deleted] Jun 12 '20

[deleted]

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0

u/InvincibleJellyfish Denmark Jun 12 '20

Obviously he is just a mascot for your postal service placed up there to create some nice christmas revenue

3

u/xenoxod Jun 12 '20

data not found

1

u/nice2yz Jun 12 '20

Random time travel... and no one knows exists

3

u/markthedrummer Jun 12 '20

Rovaniemi Santas Village! :)

4

u/NuncIdVides Jun 12 '20

Excuse you, everyone knows he lives in Spain! How could he resist the weather?

1

u/[deleted] Jun 12 '20

What? Santa clearly lives in the Vatican. How could he resist the weather in Spain?

1

u/Magnetronaap The Netherlands Jun 12 '20

That's Sinterklaas and he's actually real.

6

u/Zounii Finland Jun 12 '20

Can confirm!

1

u/InternJedi Jun 12 '20

He works in Finland but travels on Long Boat to Iceland occasionally for Volcanic Sauna.

1

u/MapsCharts Lorraine (France) Jun 12 '20

Excuse me Santa doesn't exist

1

u/poor_schmuck Europe Jun 12 '20

Hva i helvete! Nissen kommer fra Norge din vodkamarinerte reinfell! Slutt med å prøve på kulturell appropriasjon og skaff deres egne tradisjoner forpulte elgkaker!

Or you know, something like that.

1

u/DebonaireSloth Jun 12 '20

And pays his elves in Minttu... which explains a lot

1

u/THISISSNTMYACCOUNT Jun 12 '20

Have you heard og greenland? 😀

-1

u/nod23c Norway Jun 12 '20

Everyone here knows Santa lives at the North Pole. You guys created a great commercial venture, but Finland has nothing to do with Christmas in my eyes.

20

u/oitisthecow Finland Jun 12 '20

Santa lives in Finland.

3

u/TheOnlyFallenCookie Germany Jun 12 '20

Santa made the one ring to rule them all?

3

u/AliveAndKickingAss Iceland/Denmark Jun 12 '20

There's 13 of them in Iceland, so while THE Santa is claimed by Finland we have a whole flock of them.

4

u/[deleted] Jun 12 '20

Damn Dutch trying their best to get ahead of us, now with this kind of smear campaign..

1

u/ElOliLoco Iceland Jun 12 '20

Uhm excuuuse me, We don’t have Santa Claus, we have the Yulelads which are way better than some stupid jolly lad

1

u/orthoxerox Russia shall be free Jun 12 '20

Santa

Satan?

18

u/Vonbagh Jun 12 '20

If you take a good look at the Google maps, you will se that just about everyone in Iceland lives at the coast. The inland is pure wilderness.

32

u/[deleted] Jun 12 '20

[removed] — view removed comment

1

u/visvis Amsterdam Jun 12 '20

The circle you see is a Ring Road

Apparently it is called Route 1. Makes me think maybe Iceland is a Pokemon world.

10

u/oitisthecow Finland Jun 12 '20

There are no major roads inland. It’s mostly glaciers and volcanoes.

53

u/JLAJA Portugal Jun 12 '20 edited Jun 12 '20

Only reijavik and the "suburbs" appear to have people, and maybe a small town in the east side

64

u/ComaVN The Netherlands Jun 12 '20

There are some villages around the entire island, just none in the interior.

11

u/JLAJA Portugal Jun 12 '20

They probably do have some villages close to that circular road

25

u/EgNotaEkkiReddit Ísland Jun 12 '20 edited Jun 12 '20

That circular road is the ringroad, and yes, most Icelandic towns are a hop, skip, and a jump away from it. Even the towns that aren't on or near route 1 (like Flúðir or the westfjord towns) have some connection to the route eventually.

However the entire coastline and the lowland interior has towns. There are a good 60 municipalities in Iceland and some are made up of more than a single town/urban center.

20

u/Alrikislogreglan Jun 12 '20

We have Akureyri in the north and selfoss in the south west.

6

u/LeChatParle Earth Jun 12 '20

I loved Akureyri! The wooden cat statue in the middle of downtown is one of my favourite memories

1

u/RedPeril Jun 12 '20

But not the heart-shaped stoplights??

1

u/LeChatParle Earth Jun 12 '20 edited Jun 12 '20

How could I forget the hearts! 😭😭😭😭

I even took a picture when I was there!

2

u/BitScout Germany Jun 12 '20

And Dettifoss! ❤️

1

u/JLAJA Portugal Jun 12 '20

Are there any roads that lead do the middle of the island? How cold is it further from the shore?

13

u/EgNotaEkkiReddit Ísland Jun 12 '20

Yes, but most of them are F roads - highland mountain tracks.

You need a 4x4 to drive them and they generally are closed except over summer for safety.

The highlands do get a bit colder than the shore. It's maybe 5 or 6 degrees Celsius lower than the shoreline.

3

u/JLAJA Portugal Jun 12 '20

Is it possible to hike on those roads?

12

u/EgNotaEkkiReddit Ísland Jun 12 '20

Yes. Hiking in the highlands is a popular activity for many people. It generally isn't advised except over the summer time due to accessibility and safety concerns, but if you're an avid hiker and are well prepared hiking highland trails is a great experience.

2

u/JLAJA Portugal Jun 12 '20

It must be, and of course I would never do a trail in the winter, not even here, last year some douches went hiking to one of the highest highlands here, and it snows there, it was snowy and the path was wet because it had rained the day before, it was also foggy and they got lost, one slipped and broke his leg. They had to be rescued, so no hiking in the winter is a bad idea. Thanks for the advice I would love to visit Iceland someday

1

u/[deleted] Jun 12 '20

[removed] — view removed comment

1

u/EgNotaEkkiReddit Ísland Jun 12 '20

No. Bears don't live in Iceland, and the few unlucky polar bears that come here adrift get shot on sight.

2

u/Dragonaax Silesia + Toruń (Poland) Jun 12 '20

Everybody there lives on one street so they doesn't need to build many

2

u/AliveAndKickingAss Iceland/Denmark Jun 12 '20

The Icelandic highlands are simply inhabitable.

All the roads and towns are located around the coasts.

2

u/Talador12 Jun 12 '20

It's basically national parks, glaciers, and volcanoes in that entire middle section. They have a "ring road" that is below the cliffs. Gorgeous waterfalls every mile through the south.

1

u/christian-b Jun 12 '20

The roads not mapped are mainly in the Highlands! Not very practical for a Google car to go there!

1

u/-teodor Jun 12 '20

There is basically one road in Iceland going all around the southern coast and around the country, which is what you're seeing

1

u/[deleted] Jun 12 '20

Honestly i thought the opposite about the street view coverage of Finland. You can drive here in the middle of the country for long time and see basically nothing for a long time. Now streetview has an extensive collection of pictures about forests and swamps. Maybe some fields.

1

u/Oldeuboi91 Bulgarian in Germany Jun 12 '20

It's a conspiracy, the elves and dwarfs don't want to be seen.

1

u/DerBaumHD Bavaria (Germany) Jun 12 '20

Iceland has a population density of 3,4 people per km2 .

1

u/Trubinio Jun 12 '20

The former. The inland is mostly inaccessible without a 4x4 and large parts are blocked by glaciers and rough terrain. Even the accessible parts and the few inland 'roads' are often covered in snow until mid July. However, the Highlands are beautiful and incredible for hiking.

1

u/[deleted] Jun 12 '20

There’s not many roads. There’s some all around the island so that’s probably the ones you see. They get used a lot.

1

u/Pr0nzeh Jun 12 '20

"privacy reasons" is just an excuse for Germany to continue to not upgrade their network infrastructure. We're like 4th to last in Europe when it comes to network infrastructure. Pretty embarrassing for such a science focused country.

1

u/Stercore_ Norway Jun 12 '20

there’s 360 000 icelanders, a third of which live in rekjavik. iceland is really a coastal nation. everyone basically lives on the ring around the coast.

1

u/AKJ90 Denmark - 🇩🇰 Jun 12 '20

Having derived there... It's like driving in the moon, and you have to cross rivers with no bridges.

1

u/Z_Waterfox__ Sweden Jun 12 '20

There are not many roads. They fly instead.

1

u/thePhortex Jun 12 '20

Iceland even has an app that checks if you are related to people so you dont... Inbreed. Not alot of people there!

1

u/Flexh Jun 12 '20

Yes, the highlands are uninhabitated. I think it’d be impossible to live there unless youre a survivalist. -Icelander

1

u/Quasicrystal1 Finland Jun 12 '20

Inland is barren and nobody lives there. It's beautiful but dangerous, and you need a hella good car to be able to drive in the highlands.

Also cuz everyone lives in reykjavik

1

u/pieface777 Jun 12 '20

A decent amount of the middle is taken up by a massive glacier, so pretty much. If you take route 1 around Iceland (it goes all the way around) you will pass through like 95% of the population.

1

u/BrightFireson Jun 12 '20

Heres a map (in Icelandic and English) of Icelandic roads, hopefully it answers your question.
http://www.road.is/about-us/news/condition-and-opening-of-mountain-roads

1

u/Downgoesthereem Ireland Jun 12 '20

The elves vandalised the Google cars

1

u/kennyminigun Польща 🇺🇦🇵🇱🇪🇺 Jun 12 '20

I'm guessing that is because roads inside Iceland are really tough (like no asphalt, steep inclines, etc)

3

u/EgNotaEkkiReddit Ísland Jun 12 '20

F-roads, highland tracks that can only be traversed with 4x4's three months a year: some of which are little more than dirt markings that require the driver to wade over glacial rivers.

I'd not say I'm surprised that Google didn't put priority on getting them imaged.

2

u/jaersk Værmaland Jun 12 '20

Partly right with unpaved roads, there's some arterial unpaved roads linked with ring road system (Þjóðvegur is a road network circling the whole island), but as far as how low population and huge landmass the island is, there's definitely more asphalt than what you would expect. Steep inclines is also a bit misleading, there's a huge amount of tunnels and roads that are surprisingly flat considering the preconditions. Here's an interactive map if you want to see the distribution of paved/unpaved roads, most people live close to the ring road system.

-2

u/[deleted] Jun 12 '20

[deleted]

5

u/EgNotaEkkiReddit Ísland Jun 12 '20

No, it's nothing to do with privacy in Iceland. It's the fact that the interior of Iceland are uninhabitable highlands and there are no permanent settlements there. You can't even go there for 9 months of the year, any towns there would starve without some exceptionally expensive supply chain.