I happened upon a little news (on google news, where else) item proclaiming that Google's Streetview had come to Australia. Curious, I checked it out and was blown away! This thing is f'ing awesome!!! You go to your regular google maps and streets that have been charted for Streetview show up with a blue highlight. click on any point on a charted street for a - you guessed it - street view of that point. But wait, there's more... you can then "navigate" the image forwards or back on a street, turn in either direction, pan the image, ZOOM(!) and so long as you're still in a charted area, you'll get a perfectly fine image.
Check it out:Go to maps.google.com and type in "2 Sutherland Street, Cremorne, NSW 2090, Australia". And my house stares you in the gob!
Apparently, google's cameras, mounted atop cars, have been patrolling Sydney's streets on a data-capture spree for the past 7-8 months. All of this may be old hat in other parts of the world, of course. Because I see that the usual furore around privacy and so on has been duly created, forums to report inappropriate images have been set up and the token lawsuit has been filed against Google in (you guessed it) ... America. My mind's made up, though - I love it!
UPDATE: Check out these Australian Street View discoveries.
3 comments:
Seriously? You've only seen street view now? It's been around for over a year for the US and there are tons of sites that accumulate some funny street views. Like some kid wiping out on a skateboard, a view where the Google van went into a McD's drive in, some guy exiting a porn shop, etc etc. Much fun to be had.
Yeah, I just read about it cause it's launched today in Australia. As I type this, it popped up on the 7 o'clock news.
And that porn shop example is all over the place.
Are you out of your mind posting your address on the INTERNET like that? Don't you know there are tons of psychos out there? In fact, there's one knocking on your door right now. I can see him using Google's street view.
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