Official Street View Website

For Google's official website on Street View locations (present and future) and much more, go to:

Friday, April 4, 2008

Why Street View is the Best

Of course you've heard of Street View. Well, there are two other street-level imagery free websites available, and they are MapJack and Microsoft street-side. Many people consider these to be Google Street View's "competition", but those people are wrong, are here's why:

MapJack is an entire website dedicated to street-level imagery, and uses Google Maps to show the location of Jack, the MapJack mascot, who represents the viewer of the imagery. Most of the MapJack imagery is regular resolution, while about 1/3 of the locations in MapJack are quite HD. The images in MapJack are very bright, and appear to all have been edited by a photo editor.

Microsoft street-side is still in development, and a preview is all that's available. The entire website, like MapJack, is devoted to street-level imgery. It uses Live Local maps to show a car which represents your location. The way Microsoft displays the imagery is unique because the images are placed in three frames; one view straight ahead, one to the left, and one to the right, which makes the left and right frames look like side view mirrors. The three frames come in three styles, as if you are inside a car driving through town, illegally in a racecar speeding through town, or illegally walking in the middle of the street.

Google Maps Street View is far ahead of MapJack and street-side for many reasons. The most obvious reason is that MapJack only comes in three areas; San Francisco, Sausalito, and Chiang Mai. Microsoft street-side comes in only two areas; Seattle and San Francisco. By the way, these cities are only available in their downtown areas.
Google Street View has forty-three locations, and that is the main reason why Street View is the best of them all. Although most of Street View's imagery is not in high-resolution, the Street View imagery is good enough to see things such as buildings, houses, and stop signs. Also, with normal resolution, no one can make out license plates or people's faces, and that saves Google loads of time, where in high resolution, the companies would have to spend hours on Photoshop blurring faces and license plates.
Along with the already numerous benefits of normal resolution comes much quicker loading time than high-resolution sites.

Another reason why Street View is better is because Street View is not its own website like MapJack or street-side. Street View is a part of Google Maps, which adds information to Google Maps, instead of directing users to other websites for the imagery. Imagine looking at real estate on Google Maps, and you want to see pictures of the neighborhood. Instead of going to another website for the pictures, all you need to do is use the option that's already on the map you're viewing, and you have the images right there in Google Maps. And when you want to go back to the map, just exit Street View. Simple and quick = convienient.

If you'd like another reason why Street View is best, then you've come to the right place:

Google is cranking out new Street View locations at a rate of about 5 new locations a month.
MapJack is releasing new locations at a rate of about 3 new locations a year.
Microsoft street-side comes up with new locations at a rate of about 1 new location a year.

Who's fastest? Who's most efficient? If this was a Millionaire question, street-side would be the D answer in the $100 question that everyone laughs at.

Google Maps Street View is the best street-level imagery software in the world, becuse of its fast loading time, ease of use, convenience, and overall awesome Google genius put into it. Clearly, Street View has no competition, and as long as Street View is as great as it is today, it will continue to be the best street-view imagery service in the world.

Oh, and Street View shows the clouds! :-D

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