Google Maps Street View

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ferrari_chris

ferrari_chris

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ferrari_chris
I'm not sure how many people know about this, so I thought I'd post up this cool new feature for all to see and play with.

It's a new part of Google Maps called Street View.





(Click to go)

As far as I know it's only available for a few US cities at this stage, San Francisco, Las Vegas, Denver, Miami and New York.

As someone from outside the US, I found this new feature really cool and have already spent several hours taking a 'tour' of Manhattan Island.

However, Google's publishing of people's images on the net for everyone does raise some privacy issues, so it'll be interesting to see where that leads. There's already been some interesting images found: http://stuff.co.nz/4083541a28.html

Apparently you can register an objectionable image and it'll be reviewed, so that's something I suppose.

Anyway, have a play and share your experiences here - and post up some of the cool things you see. Can you see yourself? Can you see your house? Can you see your workplace?

Have fun. :)
 
Looks very cool - I can't imagine how much work it was to take panoramic views of every street in New York City! :eek: Will be great if and when they get round to adding some more cities, like London...

What would be REALLY cool is if you could type in a journey and watch an animation of that journey, as if in real time... you could train to be a New York or London cabbie without even having to leave the house!
 
Touring Mars
What would be REALLY cool is if you could type in a journey and watch an animation of that journey, as if in real time... you could train to be a New York or London cabbie without even having to leave the house!
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I’m convinced that that is part of Google’s plan – it’s the most logical next step.
 
Touring Mars
Looks very cool - I can't imagine how much work it was to take panoramic views of every street in New York City! :eek: Will be great if and when they get round to adding some more cities, like London...
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Well, what it takes a pimped out van with a ton of camera's and a data center.

http://blog.wired.com/monkeybites/2007/05/photos_the_geek.html

Google is also working on facial recognition software, so they could just blur everyone's photos when they get that finalized.
 
Big bump!

news.com.au
Users will be able to wander the streets of Australian cities and towns from Port Douglas to Perth and along the Stuart and Eyre highways that cross the country, as well as view icons such as the Australian War Memorial and the Sydney Harbour Bridge.

Google product manager Andrew Foster said that because the company's mapping tool was based on technology developed in Australia, it was excited to bring Street View to the country.

"Google Maps has its origins as an Australian invention so we're thrilled to bring Street View here as one of the first countries in the world," he said.

Google Maps, the online mapping service that incorporates Street View, is based on a product created in Sydney by Where 2 Technologies that was purchased by Google in 2004.

Mr Foster said the company's ultimate goal was to have every road catalogued on Street View. Australia will be the country most covered by the technology, but there are notable exceptions.

Uluru will be absent from Google Street View Australia at launch. Google spokesperson Rob Shilkin said the search giant had applied for the relevant permits to photograph the Northern Territory, but that images of some areas were still being processed.

Street View Australia would be updated in "a few months" with more images, and Street View in general was updated "from time to time", Mr Foster said.

The Google Street View fleet of cars – which company representatives made a point of identifying as Holden Astras – began capturing images across Australia last November.

In response to security concerns raised in the US, Google said last year its Street View service would not identify faces or license plates in Australia.

The company has recently introduced an automatic face-blurring technology designed to obscure the identities of people caught in the lens of Street View. Mr Shilkin said that the low resolution of images would prevent vehicle number plates from being identifiable.

Users can also report any Street View images they believe to be inappropriate through a link on the website. Mr Foster said it would take anywhere between a few minutes to "a day or so" to remove to offending images once they were reported.
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Source.

So, Street view has just expanded to Australia. It's amazing how many roads they've covered, it seems they've even gone to parts of outback Australia! It's fun to see your neighbours going about their day too.
 
The Wiki Page has a bunch of info, I didn't even know that they had gone out to Milwaukee yet. I've seen one of their Cobalts taking pictures, it was a few months ago. It drove by while I was waiting in my old Jetta on a red light near my house. If I'm lucky, I'm on it!
 
There's been quite a big debate about this in the UK. We already have plenty of CCTV cameras without the whole web being able to see everything at such a low down level.
 
Yeah, a lot of people are concerned that it could be used as a tool to aid crime.

Personally I think it's great, yeah you can use it to see which houses have alarms and to see which houses have lower garden fences etc but you can do all that simply by walking past them yourself.
 
I only heard of it on the news last night, it is pretty cool.
 
Dave A
Personally I think it's great, yeah you can use it to see which houses have alarms and to see which houses have lower garden fences etc but you can do all that simply by walking past them yourself.
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Exactly what I thought as well. I don't see an invasion of privacy unless you can see inside buildings etc.
 
Wouldn't that be funny... I checked it out today, and i swear I saw the same car twice on the one street! It shows my cars at my old house though :(
 
I noticed some are in Alaska, they should get some photos in Dutch Harbor at the beginning of Crab seasons while the boats are about to leave.
 
I saw one of these camera google cars (with google maps sign on it) about 5 months ago.
 
I was far too happy when they finally got the Seattle area up. Here's my wonderful Escort and my building is across the street. I figured out that I just missing seeing the camera vehicle. My car is in some pics but not others while other cars remain. The truck came by and wiggled around the minor streets, I came out and left and the truck came back to the main road, or something like that.
 
I also passed the car three times one other day, once up on 99 north of the tunnel and twice up by Park Place, but I can't seem to find it.
 
Turbo Lag
Yeah, I found that quite a fair amount of Melbourne has been covered. Can't believe they did it this fast frankly.
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We saw the cars go past school when they did it.

They've done Wilson's Prom, too.
 
They did my entire town, but for some reason they missed my street and a few others right around it. Which is funny, because I live off the main street into my neighborhood.
 
Looks like they've done the main road down the middle of the Yorke Peninsula but nothing else... :( I can see the ute though.
 

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