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Google Street View

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File:Google Street View.png
Google Street View
Car used for taking photos for Google Street View in San Francisco (Columbus Ave. / Greenwich St.)

Google Street View is a feature of Google Maps and Google Earth that provides 360° panoramic street-level views and allows users to view parts of selected cities and their surrounding metropolitan areas at ground level. When it was launched on May 25, 2007, only five cities, all in the United States were included. It has since expanded to hundreds of U.S. cities, towns, and suburbs, and to parts of France and Italy.

Google Street View displays photos that were previously taken by a camera mounted on an automobile, and can be navigated using either the arrow keys on the keyboard or by using the mouse to click on arrows displayed on the screen. Using these devices, the photos can be viewed in different sizes, from any direction, and from a variety of angles. Lines that are displayed along the street that is shown indicate the direction followed by that street.

Development

Main article: Development of Google Street View

Google Street View was first introduced in the United States on May 25, 2007, and currently features 57 camera icon markers on the U.S. map, each representing at least one major U.S. city or area (such as a park), and usually the other nearby cities, towns, suburbs, and parks. Additionally, many major U.S. cities now have street view coverage without an icon. In all, with the extensions now reaching quite far beyond these major cities, views can now be seen in parts of all but seven U.S. states (Hawaii, Louisiana, Maine, North Dakota, South Dakota, Vermont, and West Virginia).

On July 2, 2008, Google Street View was introduced in France and Italy, providing the first service outside the United States. On this day, 19 camera icons were added, mostly showing small towns and areas along the Tour de France route and part of north western Italy.

Date Locations added Reference
May 25, 2007 San Francisco, Las Vegas, Denver, Miami, New York [1]
August 7 Los Angeles, San Diego, Houston, Orlando [2]
October 9 Portland, Phoenix, Tucson, Chicago, Pittsburgh [3]
December 10 Dallas, Minneapolis, Indianapolis, Detroit, Providence, Boston [4]
February 12, 2008 Juneau, Boise, Salt Lake City, San Antonio, Kansas City, Milwaukee, Raleigh, Albany, Manchester
March 27 Anchorage, Fairbanks, Spokane, Yosemite National Park, Albuquerque, Austin, Little Rock, Rockford, Madison, Nashville, Cleveland, Tampa, Richmond [5]
June 10 Sacramento, Fresno, Oklahoma City, Tulsa, St. Louis, Jackson, Louisville, Atlanta, Columbus, Jacksonville, Columbia, Charlotte, Buffalo, Virginia Beach, Yellowstone National Park

[6]

July 2 Aigurande, Auray, Bourg d'Oisans, Brest, Brioude, Cérilly, Cholet, Embrun, Étampes, Figeac, Lannemezan, Lavelanet, Cuneo, Nantes, Saint-Malo, Paris [7]
  • Two other features included in the June 10, 2008 update were an effective mask of the "Google" car and the application of face-blurring technology on all photos, which effectively lowered the resolution across all photos, even the formerly impressive high resolution images of San Francisco. Also, many nearby metro areas were included, but they did not receive their own camera icons. Google initially used images from spherical video company Immersive Media as well as their own vehicles. Since December 2007, Google has used imagery that belongs exclusively to Google.
  • On April 16, 2008, Street View was fully integrated into Google Earth 4.3.

Areas included

Coverage areas shown in blue

Template:GSVtable

Early on, most locations had a more limited number of views, usually contained to the city limits, and only including major streets, and they only showed the buildings up to a certain height. But most of the initial views have been greatly expanded, and have been updated to show scenery all the way to the sky. Collections of photos taken of cities added later are generally more extensive from the beginning, and often include a more detailed area with every side street within the main city, more suburbs, and often more cities that are within a close drive of the main city. These areas continue to be expanded with each set of introductions.

In Google Moon, Street View-style panoramas are available for each Apollo mission.[8]

Accuracy

Images displayed through Street View are generally accurate and correspond to the physical locations on the streets in which they are depicted. On occasion, images showing where a street has been "overlaid" on top of a parking lot adjacent to that street instead can be seen in some of the cities, especially at gas stations or fast food restaurants (particularly McDonald's.)[citation needed]

Future

Google has stated that its ultimate goal is to provide street views of the entire world, although the company has not disclosed in advance the exact dates when any particular locations will be added.[9]

In the more immediate future, Google plans to release Street View for various Canadian cities, but modified so that faces and license plates are blurred, due to concerns raised by Canada's federal privacy commissioner Jennifer Stoddart about the program breaching Canada's privacy laws.[10] The commissioner's office expressed particular concern with the fact that spherical video company Immersive Media has already collected images for the service from Calgary, Edmonton, Mississauga, Montreal, Ottawa, Quebec City, Regina, Toronto, Vancouver, and Winnipeg, especially since those images have already been made commercially available on its web site.[11]

In November 2007, image collection had begun in Australia, with Street View service for the region expected to be made available in the second half of 2008.[12] Images appearing on the Australian Street View will (like Canada) have faces and license plates obscured.

In December 2007, Google began image collection in selected towns and cities in New Zealand, with Street View expected to be made available in Google Maps sometime in 2008. [13]

A "Google Car", used for Street View mapping, spotted in a suburb outside of Tokyo

In March 2008, a Google Street View camera car was also spotted collecting data in Japan.[14]

In June 2008, a Google Street view camera car was spotted in Seattle.[citation needed]

Google has also been spotted filming in various cities in Italy[15] and Spain,[16] and is attempting to hire 300 drivers to map Switzerland.[17]

Google has demonstrated Street View on prototype phones running Google's Android OS.

In April 2008, Google Street View cars were spotted in Italy with SICK laser scanners added to the scanning array on the car. These would be used for gathering 3D data as well as images.[18]

In July 2008, Google Street View cars were spotted in:

On 7 July 2008 it was confirmed that images had been taken in the UK for Google Street View.[20] [21]

Privacy issues

Privacy advocates have objected to this Google feature, pointing to views found to show men leaving strip clubs, protesters at an abortion clinic, sunbathers in bikinis, cottagers at public parks, parents hitting their children, males picking up prostitutes and other activities, as well as people engaging in activities visible from public property in which they do not wish to be seen publicly.[22] Google maintains that the photos were taken from public property. Before launching the service, Google removed photos of domestic violence shelters, and allows users to flag inappropriate or sensitive imagery for Google to review and remove.[23] When the service was first launched, the process for requesting that an image be removed was not trivial;[24] however, Google has since changed its policy to make removal more straightforward.[25] Images of potential break-ins, sunbathers and individuals entering adult bookstores have, for example, remained active and these images have been widely republished.[26]

In Europe, the creation of Google Street View may not be legal in all places. While the laws vary from country to country, many countries in Europe have laws prohibiting the unconsented filming of an individual on public property for the purpose of public display.[27]

One of Google's remedies to the concerns over privacy laws outside the United States has been a pledge to blur faces of people who are filmed. Google began blurring faces on 13 May 2008[28] and the images published since then, including the first launch of images in Europe on 2 June 2008, have all used face blurring.

Google has delayed the release of its street views of Washington, D.C. and other nearby areas of Maryland and Virginia (including Baltimore, Central Maryland and Northern Virginia) out of concern from the United States Department of Homeland Security that some of the images taken may be of security-sensitive areas.[citation needed]

The Pentagon has banned Google from publishing Street View content of U.S. military bases and asked Google to remove existing content of bases (to which Google has complied).[29]

Some parents have expressed concern over Street View compromising the security of their children.[30]

Aaron and Christine Boring, a Pittsburgh couple sued Google for "invasion of privacy". They claimed that Street View made a photo of their home available online, and it diminished the value of their house, which was purchased for its privacy.[31]

Some bloggers have disputed these privacy concerns.[32] For example, a photograph of the home of the Boring couple was already available on the county tax assessor's website prior to their lawsuit.

See also

References

  1. ^ View Leaves You Google-Eyed
  2. ^ Google Street View now in Los Angeles - BrooWaha
  3. ^ Look Out: Six New Cities Added to Google Street View
  4. ^ Google Street View Expands to 8 New US Cities
  5. ^ Google Street View Takes In More Scenes | WebProNews
  6. ^ Street View turns 1, keeps on growing | Google LatLong
  7. ^ http://www.webpronews.com/topnews/2008/07/03/google-street-view-glances-at-france
  8. ^ About Google Moon
  9. ^ Twelve New Cities To See In Street View | WebProNews
  10. ^ Weeks, Carly (September 24, 2007). "Google's Street View blurred by Canadian privacy concerns". CanWest News Service. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  11. ^ Google's detailed streetscapes raise privacy concerns
  12. ^ Smile! You're on Google's camera | NEWS.com.au
  13. ^ Google puts New Zealand on the World Wide Maps - 01 Jan 2008 - NZ Herald: Technology News, views and comment from New Zealand and the World
  14. ^ Japanese Google Street View Car
  15. ^ Google Street View Cars Spotted in Italy
  16. ^ Los coches fotógrafos de Google, 'cazados' por los lectores de elmundo.es | elmundo.es
  17. ^ http://valleywag.com/357517/sergey-stymied-prius-doesnt-work-for-google-street-view
  18. ^ Google Street View - Soon in 3D? at Educating Silicon
  19. ^ http://www.theregister.co.uk/2008/07/02/street_view_spycar/
  20. ^ http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/technology/2008/07/googles_street_view_response.html
  21. ^ http://technology.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/tech_and_web/article4263569.ece
  22. ^ MacDonald, Calum (June 4, 2007). "Google's Street View site raises alarm over privacy". The Herald. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  23. ^ Mills, Elinor (June 3, 2007). "Google's street-level maps raising privacy concerns". USA Today. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  24. ^ "Google Waffles on Street View Takedown Policy". Dr. Dobb's Portal. June 15, 2007. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  25. ^ "Google Lets You Remove People from Street View". Google Operating System. August 26, 2007. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  26. ^ "Google Street View: Accidental Online Community or Real Invasion of Privacy?". Web Urbanist. June 8, 2007. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  27. ^ Google's Street View could be unlawful in Europe | OUT-LAW.COM
  28. ^ Google begins blurring faces in Street View
  29. ^ "Pentagon bans Google teams from bases". Reuters. 2008-03-06. Retrieved 2008-03-07.
  30. ^ MyFox Milwaukee | Google Street View Upsets Some Parents
  31. ^ "Couple Sues Google Over "Street View"". The Smoking Gun. Retrieved 2008-04-04. {{cite news}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |coauthors= (help)
  32. ^ Castro, Daniel (April 25, 2008). "I Spy a Luddite: Why the Lawsuit over Google Street View is Absurd". The Information Technology and Innovation Foundation. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
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