I've been Google-viewed!

jtbell

As I was walking back to my office from lunch a few days ago, along one of the main streets in my town, I saw a car approaching, with a 3-foot stalk sprouting out of the roof, and a blue ball with several apertures on top of that. It passed me, and I saw a sign on the side reading "Google [something]".

I wonder how long it takes for Google to update its Street View database. The current images for that street are dated March 2009.

zoobyshoe

I've been wondering about this phenomenon since I first became aware of it.

I just googled London, for example, zoomed in on the Waterloo bridge, and followed it partway across, seeing many pedestrians on the way. Most of their faces are too fuzzy to identify, but many could, possibly, be identified by distinct clothing.

At some point I wonder if the outcome of some criminal case won't depend on placing someone, or their car, somewhere, because the google cam happened to be in the neighborhood around the time of the crime.

A suspect's guilt could be thrown in serious doubt if google's image shows his car to have been miles away from the crime, or his guilt could be cinched if he claims he was far away, but google shows he was actually parked around the corner from the crime.

TheStatutoryApe

I believe someone was allegedly caught cheating on their spouse because their vehicle was caught by google outside their lovers place or something along those lines.

Ryan_m_b

I once saw the Google car coming and stood waving with a friend, we saw it a little while later and did the same. After a year the footage finally went up....and we weren't in it we were cut between two series of pictures it seemed.

ThomasT

http://maps.google.com/intl/en/help/...reet-view.html

Jimmy Snyder

According to that map they haven't viewed my street yet. So I can continue to fool around. No wait, they viewed my girlfriend's street. Yikes, that's my wife's car! I'll see you later guys. I gotta run.

Lebombo

What would happen if the google car were traveling in a high traffic area and could only drive at a speed of approx 3 miles per hour for about a mile. Could you then walk for jog beside it and be in every google map picture frame for that mile? That would be strange and awesome.

ThomasT

ThomasT

Also, as hardware on/in the roaming Google cars records current street views it's possibly recording unencrypted data from wireless home computers.

(I got this from an issue of The Week magazine, and have no idea if it's true.)

Astronuc

That was reported last year or a couple of years ago. I believe that is one reason that details of vehicles and people are blurred or removed.

Interestingly, Google photographed the house where I lived with my folks more than 50 years ago on the south coast of Vic, Aus. It is a small town, with a population of about 1800, but when I lived there, there was probably 200-300 people.

Why they photographed that place and not other more populated places seems rather strange.

leroyjenkens

How do they specify what they'll blur out?

Astronuc

There legal staff/lawyers would probably establish a policy. They would have to comply with privacy regulations in all jurisdications where they take images. There were issues in EU concerning privacy as well.

http://maps.google.com/help/maps/str...w/privacy.html

http://support.google.com/maps/bin/a...&answer=153807

https://developers.google.com/maps/terms

http://www.google.com/policies/privacy/

edward

Google claimed that the data from home computers was collected accidentally and paid a fine.

http://techland.time.com/2011/03/21/...-private-data/

edward

Google has some driverless cars on the road in nevada. The are still required to have two people in the vehicles.

http://www.doubleclickblog.com/nevad...-cars-on-roads

ThomasT

Ah yes, the old "that 25 terabytes of data was collected accidentally" defense. As I recall the fine was something like $25k. That's like a day's coffee money for Google. I suspect that they might still be doing what they got fined for. Not that it's being done with any sort of bad or necessarily intrusive intentions.

jtbell

I've seen that Google street-view privacy page, so I was expecting that if my face could have been recognizable, they'd blur it. I probably look like most any other slightly overweight gray-haired guy in a baseball-type cap anyway. But I was the only person on that stretch of sidewalk for at least a block in either direction, and I was carrying a rolled-up umbrella, so if I'm in there at all, I'll know it.

ThomasT

I love Google street view. I recently toured the neighborhood where I grew up. It looks exactly the same as I remember it from 50 years ago ... except for the houses that aren't there any more because of the interstate highway.