Google Street View

Google Street View was Originally Posted on March 9, 2010 by lavarock

IF you are not familiar with some of Google products, there is one that is kinda neat, yet creepy too:-)

Google Earth uses satellite imagery so that you can zoom down from space and see your home. This allows you also to view places in the world that you have never and will never visit.

I have looked at Greenland, Russia and sometimes just randomly let the earth view spin and click (like they did on globes) to pick a random location to explore. If you are interested, dowload the free program at http://earth.google.com.

Software looks at the earth photos and decides if a previous or current photo is clearer than the other and updates the website appropriately. In my case, the three types of photos of my farm show the farm with mcadamia nut trees, then the area cleared and rather than a new photo of the coffee trees, the current photo reverts back to the original macadamia nut trees. Luckily, there is not an option where you can go back in time (along a timeline) and see all of the views.

Another option they have is to go down to a street view and see photos taken from the street of houses and buildings. Because of privacy issues, the software blurs peoples faces and so on. They are NOT supposed to enter private property.

Today I saw a car with the Google cameras on it, driving north through Kainaliu on the Big Island. The car then went up the old highway towards Holualoa. On the vehicle was a mast with a circular ring on the top. That ring contained perhaps 6 cameras taking photos which would be stitched together. Also up on the roof was a GPS unit. On the back bumper was a sticker which said GOOGLE.

Ever the media hound, I pulled over in front of a business and IF the cameras were working at the time, will show the back of my truck. I am in the drivers seat and Koa (my Labrador) was acting co-pilot.

It will also be interesting to see how long it takes for the actual photos to appear online.