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| 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<ref></ref> and the images published since then, including the first launch of images in Europe on 2 June 2008, have all used face blurring. | 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<ref></ref> and the images published since then, including the first launch of images in Europe on 2 June 2008, have all used face blurring. | ||
| In Australia, Google pledged not to identify faces or number plates.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.news.com.au/technology/story/0,25642,24130293-5014108,00.html|title=Google unveils Street View across Australia|publisher=news.com.au|date=2008-08-05|accessdate=2008-08-06}}</ref> However, it is still possible to view both. |
In Australia, Google pledged not to identify faces or number plates.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.news.com.au/technology/story/0,25642,24130293-5014108,00.html|title=Google unveils Street View across Australia|publisher=news.com.au|date=2008-08-05|accessdate=2008-08-06}}</ref> However, it is still possible to view both.{{Fact|date=August 2008}} | ||
| 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 ]) out of concern from the ] that some of the images taken may be of security-sensitive areas.{{Fact|date=January 2008}} | 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 ]) out of concern from the ] that some of the images taken may be of security-sensitive areas.{{Fact|date=January 2008}} | ||
Revision as of 13:17, 6 August 2008
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 American cities were included. It has since expanded to hundreds of locations in the United States, France, Italy, Australia and Japan. Google recently announced that Street View will soon be expanded to the United Kingdom. Cities will include Swansea, which is currently the only detail.
Google Street View displays photos that were previously taken by a camera mounted on a car, 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 view camera car.
Development
Google Street View was first introduced in the United States on May 25, 2007, and currently features 58 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 six U.S. states (Hawaii, 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
On August 4, 2008, Australia and Japan were added to Google Street View. On this day, 28 icons were added, featuring major metropolitan areas of Japan as well as the bulk of Australia. Included in the update were approximately 40 new U.S. hub cities.
- 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
Development
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.
On May 25, 2007, when the original five cities (San Francisco, Las Vegas, Denver, New York, and Miami) were introduced, views could be seen mostly on major streets within these cities, and only some of the main routes within their suburbs. Side streets were seldom included, and views in other major cities nearby were nearly non-existent. In all of the five original cities, views have since been greatly improved.
- The Denver area was expanded on March 27 2008 to cover the full area of Colorado to the north of Denver, up to the Wyoming border. The Denver area was updated again August 4 2008, to include Colorado Springs and Pueblo.
- The Las Vegas area was expanded on June 10, 2008, and nearby cities and parks were added.
- The San Francisco area, which included some parts of other cities (such as Oakland and San Jose, was expanded on June 10, 2008 to include most of the region. The addition of Sacramento and Fresno resulted in cities, suburbs, parks, and rural areas throughout this region of California and nearby parts of Nevada (such as Carson City and Reno.
- The New York area was expanded on June 10, 2008, to include more detailed views of Long Island, Westchester County and North Jersey (including Newark and Edison). While some of these extended locations include every street, others still feature just the main roads (see complete map).
- In the Miami view, originally one of the places with fewer details, small part of the cities of Hollywood and Fort Lauderdale were the only areas outside the city included when it was introduced. The Miami area was also improved on June 10, and expanded to include the details of much of Palm Beach and Broward Counties, the Florida Keys (all the way to Key West), part of the area around Lake Okeechobee, and part Everglades National Park.
Google Moon
In Google Moon, Street View-style panoramas are available for each Apollo mission.
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.
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.
Google has demonstrated Street View on prototype phones running Google's Android OS true .
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.
North America
Canada
Around Canada, Google Street claims to have collected images for:
Oceania
New Zealand
In New Zealand, Google Street View Cars have been spotted in:
Europe
Italy
In Italy, Google Street View Cars have been spotted in:
Spain
In Spain, Google Street View Cars have been spotted in:
United Kingdom
Around United Kingdom, Google Street View Cars have been spotted in:
On July 7, 2008 it was confirmed that images had been taken in the UK for Google Street View.
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. 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. When the service was first launched, the process for requesting that an image be removed was not trivial; however, Google has since changed its policy to make removal more straightforward. Images of potential break-ins, sunbathers and individuals entering adult bookstores have, for example, remained active and these images have been widely republished.
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.
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 and the images published since then, including the first launch of images in Europe on 2 June 2008, have all used face blurring.
In Australia, Google pledged not to identify faces or number plates. However, it is still possible to view both.
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.
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).
Some parents have expressed concern over Street View compromising the security of their children.
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.
Some bloggers have disputed these privacy concerns. 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.
With increasing storage to price ratios, the resolution at which Google is able to archive and distribute street view data may become a concern. In addition, this data is acquired with position and orientation data and at multiple view angles allowing integration into a 3-dimensional context. This could allow a virtual survey of one's property to a degree unlike that from the imagery available on typical local property tax websites. This change in technology leads to the question of whether it is possible to trespass virtually on someone's property using remote sensing techniques. The relative ease of using this data through Google Street View could result in the malicious use of the data for "brute force" advertising or even "phishing" style scams. It is true that Google limits the meta-data distributed with the street view images, therefore limiting the application of this data, but they also have the copyright on the full data-set and the right to sell or lease it.
See also
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References
- http://www.appscout.com/2008/06/google_street_view_face_blurri.php
- http://www.al.com/news/huntsvilletimes/index.ssf?/base/news/1213780588190290.xml&coll=1
- About Google Moon
- Twelve New Cities To See In Street View | WebProNews
- 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) - Google Street View - Soon in 3D? at Educating Silicon
- Google's detailed streetscapes raise privacy concerns
- 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
- Google Street View Cars Spotted in Italy
- Los coches fotógrafos de Google, 'cazados' por los lectores de elmundo.es | elmundo.es
- http://www.eveningtelegraph.co.uk/output/2008/07/29/story11724881t0.shtm
- Liverpool Daily Post, July 21, 2008
- http://www.theregister.co.uk/2008/07/02/street_view_spycar/
- http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/northern_ireland/7534571.stm
- http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/technology/2008/07/googles_street_view_response.html
- http://technology.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/tech_and_web/article4263569.ece
- MacDonald, Calum (June 4, 2007). "Google's Street View site raises alarm over privacy". The Herald.
{{cite news}}: Check date values in:|date=(help) - Mills, Elinor (June 3, 2007). "Google's street-level maps raising privacy concerns". USA Today.
{{cite news}}: Check date values in:|date=(help) - "Google Waffles on Street View Takedown Policy". Dr. Dobb's Portal. June 15, 2007.
{{cite news}}: Check date values in:|date=(help) - "Google Lets You Remove People from Street View". Google Operating System. August 26, 2007.
{{cite news}}: Check date values in:|date=(help) - "Google Street View: Accidental Online Community or Real Invasion of Privacy?". Web Urbanist. June 8, 2007.
{{cite news}}: Check date values in:|date=(help) - Google's Street View could be unlawful in Europe | OUT-LAW.COM
- Google begins blurring faces in Street View
- "Google unveils Street View across Australia". news.com.au. 2008-08-05. Retrieved 2008-08-06.
- "Pentagon bans Google teams from bases". Reuters. 2008-03-06. Retrieved 2008-03-07.
- MyFox Milwaukee | Google Street View Upsets Some Parents
- "Couple Sues Google Over "Street View"". The Smoking Gun. Retrieved 2008-04-04.
{{cite news}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter:|coauthors=(help) - 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) - Helft, Miguel (June 1, 2007). "Google Zooms In Too Close for Some". The New York Times.
{{cite news}}: Check date values in:|date=(help)
