Street View Stuff

More Street View in Four Nations

2009-11-09T21:10:00.004-07:00

Today, four nations have received Street View; one nation, Mexico, has never had any imagery before. The five new locations are:

Hawai'i, United States (Maui and Oahu)
Mexican major cities
Canary Islands, Spain
Spain (mainland)
Netherlands

Congratulations to the new Street View locations, and thank you to Google!

Mexico Monday

2009-11-07T10:32:00.003-07:00

According to VatorNews, Google is planning to add Mexican Street View imagery on Monday, November 9, 2009. The cities included are planned to be:

Cancún
Ciudad de México
Cozumel
Guadalajara
Monterrey
Playa del Carmen
Puerto Vallarta

Yesterday, Google Maps released their Mexican website, so it would be natural to add Street View immediately afterward.

Google Australia Team Poses for Camera

2009-11-06T09:01:00.001-07:00

The Sydney Morning Herald has a video clip available on its website of the Google Australia team posing for their appearances in Google Street View.

New Views in Australia

2009-10-31T08:54:00.002-06:00

Next month, Google plans to start taking new photographs for Australian Street View to give users a more up-to-date experience.

See more information at the Google Australia blog.

Newer Zealand

2009-10-22T08:41:00.002-06:00

Yesterday, Google New Zealand Blog announced that the Kiwi Street View imagery is scheduled for an update, this time with higher resolution photographs such as those in Europe and Canada. Also, face-blurring technology is planned to be implemented.

The first region to get the new photographs is Auckland, starting this week. So for those of you in New Zealand, as the National Business Review says, "Brush your hair and avoid massage parlours."

Twin CN Towers

2009-10-13T15:01:00.001-06:00

Found in Toronto:

View Larger Map

Update! Mettre à jour! Aktualizovat!

2009-10-07T15:23:00.004-06:00

Today, many of the streets of Canada and the Czech Republic are now visible in Street View! Here are the Canadian regions:

Banff National Park
Calgary, Alberta
Halifax, Nova Scotia
Hamilton, Ontario
Kitchener, Ontario
Montréal, Quebec
Ottawa, Ontario
Québec, Quebec
Toronto, Ontario
Vancouver, British Columbia

And in the Czech Republic, the most coverage is in and around the Praha area, but then extends to Beroun, Brno, Mělník, Poděbrady, and Příbram.

I can't wait to see what these countries' streets have to offer! Thanks, Google!

Confusing Crashes Caught

2009-09-22T21:03:00.002-06:00

Jalopnik has put out a funny article about ten very confusing car accidents that have been found on Street View. They range from too many police officers to very poor parking. Take a look for yourself!

Cute Google Animation

2009-09-16T06:57:00.002-06:00

This video was recently released by the folks at Google Japan to show how the Street View process works.

South African Street View

2009-09-02T07:30:00.003-06:00

According to Bizcommunity.com, Google SA is working to release Street View for South Africa. They seem to plan to release this imagery in time for the 2010 FIFA World Cup. Toyota is teaming up with Google to provide the camera cars.

Google Brings Back Link

2009-08-28T10:03:00.003-06:00

A feature which was previously in Google Maps, but then removed for some strange reason, has returned. When searching for a business in a Street View-covered area, a link now appears to view that business's building in Street View.

A new addition to this feature is the appearance of the red placemark pin:

Swiss Watchdog

2009-08-22T08:29:00.003-06:00

Yesterday, a data protection "watchdog" officer in Switzerland told Google to immediately remove Swiss Street View coverage from the Internet, according to the Sydney Morning Herald. The group claims that Google did not follow the privacy conditions they apparently agreed to.

Actually, the only problem with the coverage is that some faces and license plates have not been blurred. Hopefully, Google will repair this imagery soon.

August 2009 Worldwide Update

2009-08-18T09:01:00.003-06:00

This long-overdue update (sorry about the prediction, guys! ;-) has finally been put on the map. Three new nations are now covered in Street View: Portugal, Switzerland, and Taiwan. Swizterland has the best coverage of them all; Portugal only has coverage in Lisbon and Porto, and Taiwan only has coverage in Taipei City.

View Larger Map

According to Google LatLong's official announcement of this update, some new interesting Partner Program locations have been added: Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca, Thunderhill Raceway Park (which the Street View car was spotted at months ago), San Diego State University, and Legoland California.

Picture Perfect

2009-08-12T09:02:00.002-06:00

A Kentucky painter named Bill Guffey likes to paint pictures of scenes in cities around the world, but he has not been to any of them. According to ABC News, he solved that problem by virtually visiting those places in Street View! These paintings have sold for hundreds, sometimes thousands, of dollars.

Although Street View images may not be the best-looking photographs you've seen of a place, Bill can transform them into something beautiful.

My Work Here is Done (Most of it, Anyway)

2009-08-05T09:13:00.003-06:00

For the past twenty months, I've shown you loyal readers a list of certain upcoming Street View locations from news sources and blogs all over the Internet, and I've kept a list of current locations on this blog's right sidebar. Now, Google Maps has an official Street View database where all this information can be found, along with lots of other cool stuff. I've posted a link to this site right here on the blog so it will be easier to find for visitors.

Don't worry, I'll keep you guys updated on the latest Street View buzz, but remember that Google now has a website especially for listing current and upcoming locations, so I would recommend heading over there for that information.

According to the new Street View website, cities all over Canada, Germany, and Switzerland are being photographed. That answers the question of Germany and Switzerland's privacy laws. It looks like Google has once again steered clear of those obstacles.

Land of the Midnight Street View

2009-07-25T08:52:00.003-06:00

According to Life in the Knife, the capital city of Canada's Northwest Territories, Yellowknife, is being photographed by Google Street View.

Also, according to CBC News, the not-so-nearby city of Whitehorse (in Canada's Yukon territory) is also being covered. The driver of that car was told not to conduct any interviews, but said that he'd been driving through Whitehorse for the past three days.

The Canadian Street View release should be huge.

Getting Fancy

2009-07-24T21:16:00.002-06:00

Today, Google has changed the way Street View works with a new 3D-type feature that is viewable whenever you click the arrow buttons. You can try it out below:

View Larger Map

This is very similar to EveryScape's 3D motion feature.

What are your thoughts on this new feature? Is it a slight improvement, or does it take away from the simplicity Street View once had?

One Small Step for Pegman

2009-07-20T21:50:00.003-06:00

In honor of the 40th anniversary of the Apollo 11 moon landing, Google Maps has made Pegman into an astronaut today. Interestingly, the artists at Google decided to design an outfit different from Pegman's cousin on Google Moon.

Thanks, Steven!

Google Soap View

2009-07-17T15:56:00.004-06:00

According to Telegraph.co.uk, the set of the soap opera Coronation Street was recently photographed by Google Street View cameras. These views are planned to be released in a few days. One interviewee said that "Corrie" is one of the most famous streets in Britain, even though it is fictional.

Unlike the Street With a View project, no special poses by cast members of the show were made, as far as I know.

Brasileiro Carros estão Aqui

2009-07-06T08:39:00.004-06:00

According to Fernando Quadro, Google cars have been roaming Brazil since July 2, 2009. Three states are currently being filmed:

Minas Gerais
Rio de Janeiro
São Paulo

Crazy for College Campuses

2009-06-23T08:54:00.002-06:00

According to The Wired Campus, the Google Trike team is planning to take Street View photos for college campuses. So far, the following three colleges are being photographed:

California State University at San Diego
University of San Diego
University of Pennsylvania

If you're a college student, keep an eye out for the Google Trike!

Suspects Sighted with Street View

2009-06-22T08:55:00.002-06:00

This has been all over the Internet. I usually don't post popular Street View news like this, but it's a slow Street View week.

Tons of News

2009-06-15T07:38:00.002-06:00

Sorry for the delay; I try not to blog on Sundays.

Changing the Rules: To appease the strict privacy rules of the European Union, Google has agreed to stop holding the original (non-blurred, non-edited) Street View video files. However, this would mean there is more chance for error in the pictures, and these errors are nearly impossible to fix. Be prepared for thousands of coverage gaps in the middle of European streets. Read more here.

Google Trike Update: Two main new locations were added from Google Trike imagery this week: Disneyland Paris and a bicycle trail in Monterey, California. Read more here and here.

Pancake Navigation

2009-06-05T09:34:00.003-06:00

Google has released a new smart navigation tool feature called the "pancake". This way, you don't need to continue to click the Street View arrows to get from one place to another; you can zoom across from one point to another. To use it, just hover your mouse until you see a three-dimensional transparent oval or rectangle. Double-clicking it will zoom the Street View to adjust to that specific location. The 3D-like effects are similar to EveryScape's, but you only use them if you want to. If you double-click a rectangle, it will zoom to a view of that part of a facade. It's too amazing to describe in words, so try it out for yourself!

View Larger Map

Here's a video of the new feature:

Twitter Tracking

2009-05-30T09:02:00.003-06:00

It turns out that Twitter is an excellent place for finding Street View sightings. Just searching for "Google Street View car" has revealed that people have apparently recently seen Street View cars in Los Angeles, New York, and Austin–three locations that haven't been reported yet! Since regular blog posts can't keep up with this, a new widget has been placed on this blog's sidebar, "Twitter Car Sightings". Hopefully, it will help us keep up with locations not covered by the media. I'll save the regular blog posts for media coverage.

So, get ready for updated imagery in the United States!