Google Street View Demystified

Ever wonder how that wonderful Street View technology worked? Here is the secret compliments of Google Japan...enjoy!



Note: Found via Gizmodo

Google Street View Goes Live In Canada

It appears as though Google has appeased the Canadian Privacy czar and this week made Street View available with maps of much of the Greater Toronto Area, Vancouver and the surrounding area, north to Whistler and east to Chilliwack, B.C., Hamilton, Kitchener, Waterloo, Ottawa and Windsor in Ontario, as well as Calgary, Canmore, Banff and Lake Louise in Alberta, Montreal and Quebec City in Quebec and Halifax, Nova Scotia. According to the CBC "Google has tried to address the privacy concerns of Street View brought up by Canada's privacy commissioner. The company has added privacy features to the service, including the automatic blurring of faces and licence plates to avoid identifying people and cars and an easy method for asking that images be removed."

Word from the company is that its cars have been filming in Saint John, N.B., Edmonton, Saskatoon and Winnipeg, no mention of Charlottetown but we've seen the cars around!

Street View Team Hitting The Road In Canada

Over the next few weeks Google employees will be cruising the streets of 11 of Canada's largest cities, including Halifax, Montreal, Winnipeg and Calgary, capturing data for their popular Street View searches. This is not the first round of data capture in Canada, Street View teams had previously collected some Canadian street data, which it plans to make public soon. There's no word on when the data from this round will be publicly released however. Google makes it a practice to blank out faces and license plates, but you might want to be on your best behaviour for the next few weeks lest you be caught doing something you'd rather not have etched in time. "Many a Web page is now dedicated to finding gems such as accidentally documented street fights, crimes in progress and, of course, people walking in or out of adult stores."

Source: Globe and Mail

Google Offers Street View Tour of Tour de France

If you've ever wished to be on the sidelines watching the cyclists speed past, but just can't find the time nor the money to be in France during the big race, you might enjoy Google Street View's Tour de France offering. View the tour legs, stage by stage, at google.com/tourdefrance2008. Here is where Street View really shines, allowing visitors from around the globe to experience the sights that the riders see, while following their precise path with photographic accuracy.