Google unveils Street View across Australia (1 Viewer)

[kaz1]

http://www.news.com.au/story/0,23599,24130293-2,00.html


AUSTRALIA will today become the third country to have its cities, streets and landmarks "scanned into" Google as the search giant unveils its most ambitious Street View project to date.



Google Street View is an online tool that lets users take a virtual tour of landscapes from their computer by perusing an interactive database of millions of 360-degree snapshots.


The snapshots are taken by a fleet of cars fitted with special cameras that drive across the country, capturing images on every street corner and along every highway.


The technology has so far been used to create virtual replicas of major US cities and the route of this year's Tour De France, but Google will today unveil its most comprehensive Street View project to date – the mapping of virtually all of southeast Australia and much of the east and west coasts.



Users will be able to wander the streets of Australian cities and towns from Port Douglas to Perth and along the Stuart and Eyre highways that cross the country, as well as view icons such as the Australian War Memorial and the Sydney Harbour Bridge.


Google product manager Andrew Foster said that because the company's mapping tool was based on technology developed in Australia, it was excited to bring Street View to the country.


"Google Maps has its origins as an Australian invention so we're thrilled to bring Street View here as one of the first countries in the world," he said.

Google Maps, the online mapping service that incorporates Street View, is based on a product created in Sydney by Where 2 Technologies that was purchased by Google in 2004.


Mr Foster said the company's ultimate goal was to have every road catalogued on Street View. Australia will be the country most covered by the technology, but there are notable exceptions.


Uluru will be absent from Google Street View Australia at launch. Google spokesperson Rob Shilkin said the search giant had applied for the relevant permits to photograph the Northern Territory, but that images of some areas were still being processed.


Street View Australia would be updated in "a few months" with more images, and Street View in general was updated "from time to time", Mr Foster said.

The Google Street View fleet of cars – which company representatives made a point of identifying as Holden Astras – began capturing images across Australia last November.


In response to security concerns raised in the US, Google said last year its Street View service would not identify faces or license plates in Australia.

The company has recently introduced an automatic face-blurring technology designed to obscure the identities of people caught in the lens of Street View. Mr Shilkin said that the low resolution of images would prevent vehicle number plates from being identifiable.


Users can also report any Street View images they believe to be inappropriate through a link on the website. Mr Foster said it would take anywhere between a few minutes to "a day or so" to remove to offending images once they were reported.

http://maps.google.com.au/help/maps/streetview/

They didn't put my street in.

 

[Snaykew]

3rd? Yes! We're the 3rd most important country in the world.

 

[jazzbaby]

wow.

 

[chicky_pie]

3rd? Yes! We're the 3rd most important country in the world.

& we invented Google Map. :angry:

 

[breaking]

haha everyone at my work was talking about this today

had a bit of a play with it this morning, its fucking incredible

 

[sam04u]

Wow.... just wow....
It's as beautiful as it is scary. Screenshots?

 

[Bacilli]

it's a violation if you ask me, but i'm only saying that because at the time the image of my house was taken I had my wang-dang-fang hanging out the window... weak kidnz

 

[wixxy2348]

http://maps.google.com.au/help/maps/streetview/They didn't put my street in.

Isn't that a good thing?
It's creepy I just found my house. My bedroom window is visible... clearly visible (so visible that if my blind had been open....). I am never opening it again.
Creepy stuff.

 

[housah0lic]

haha everyone at my work was talking about this today

had a bit of a play with it this morning, its fucking incredible

yay me too
we both did i think
yay

 

[breaking]

haha you can even go into the carpark of my work and see the numberplates of all the cars who were parked there at the time... fucking gambling addicts lol

 

[katietheskatie]

fucking hell, i want to look up where i live/work etc but my internet is being too slow

 

[Bacilli]

bigpond?

 

[Serius]

haha you can see into my housemates window [its not very clear though and you cant see anything but still

 

[bigboyjames]

disappointing news.

 

[^CoSMic DoRiS^^]

View into my house is blocked by the tree in full spring bloom in front of it. Thank goodness. It is kinda cool though in a weird way. It'll be useful for tards like myself who fail at map directions...now I can get a picture of the place I'm looking for and explore the street its on before I go. Sweet.

 

[Serius]

yeah that was my initial reaction, its kind of cool to see what the place looks like that you are going to.

The other bennefit is, i live in a uni town and most of my friends are from different places, so now they can show me where their home is and what their house looks like..

I am not really bothered by the privacy or anything, but allready one photo in the centre of wollongong at a certain angle in the middle of crossing the street is a close up of a guy who looks much like my friend, so XXXposed!

 

[chicky_pie]

I'm waiting if there is any funny bloopers of people in Sydney, seen too many in the U.S street view lol

 

[xxxx8888]

i can barely see my house because of the trees.

good thing i guess.

 

[louise08]

i looked at my school though it.. and i saw my friends walking between buildings ha.
Is the snapshot taken once? or is it uploaded frequently?

 

[louise08]

haha

http://www.smh.com.au/photogallery/2008/08/03/1217701857311.html