Blue Highlights Updated!

On Google Maps, the Street View mode has been updated so that users can see blue highlights from any zoom level. This will most definitely help Street View users in the future, when Street View goes worldwide. This will also eliminate the need for camera icons soon.

EveryScape tries to beat Google

You probably recently heard that ABC News has put out an article regarding EveryScape, another street-level panorama service. EveryScape offers many views of places all over the world, and they currently have at total of sixteen locations. Some "scapes", as they're called, even go indoors. Lately, many Internet users have even started to claim that EveryScape is better than Google Street View, for the following reasons:

1. EveryScape has some locations that Street View has not yet.
2. EveryScape goes inside buildings.
3. Their goal is to "scape" the whole world.
4. They display advertisements directly on the image.
5. OMG they have an awesome 3D speed forward effect!

Well, each of these reasons are false, and for the following reasons:
Yes, EveryScape has some locations that Street View doesn't have at the moment, seven, to be exact. But Street View has 48 locations that EveryScape doesn't have. So, Street View has EveryScape already beat in number of locations.
Yes, EveryScape goes inside some buildings, but this happens only extremely rarely. But rthat's still some. So, EveryScape has Street View beat in number of interior locations, even though it's a very small quantity.
Yes, EveryScape's goal is to "scape" the whole world, but so is Street View's goal, and Street View is closer to accomplishing it, so Street View has EveryScape beat again there.
Yes, EveryScape displays ads directly on the "scape", but that's also its disadvantage, since many users don't want to see a panorama cluttered with ads. Most Internet users don't even click Internet ads (from AdSense experience, I can tell you this is true), much less want to see them. So Street View has EveryScape beat there.
Yes, EveryScape has a cool-looking 3D transition effect. Can't beat that, but it would also cause unnecessary bandwidth, time, and it's pretty much just showing off.
In conclusion, EveryScape is just another street-level panorama service like MapJack and street-side. For more reasons that these just don't compare to Google Street View, see this earlier post. It's not hard to see that Street View is the best on the 'Net!

Bill Gates's Prediction Came True

According to CTV.ca, Bill Gates's book The Road Ahead predicted many things in the future that would involve computers and the Internet. One of those predictions was that anyone will

be able to jump into a map so you can navigate down a street or through the
rooms of a building.

Well, Google Street View has fulfilled this prediction, but not going into buildings yet. That could come very soon, though, and Google is known for their genius ideas, so expect "Interior View" sometime in the future.

Street View visits Microsoft

Lately, there has been a rumor spread on the Internet that a Microsoft emplyee found a Google Street View car driving through the Microsoft campus in Seattle. If you're a Street View you'll easily spot this as true, since Street View cars are currently roaming the streets of Seattle, Washington. This rumor was started at Gizmodo, from a Microsoft employee. An amusing part of the sotry is that the Street View car drove right by the Live Maps team, who started teasing Google.

I Can't Believe it's not in Street View!

All but one of the locations in the previous I Can't Believe it's not in Street View! have been added. The only one left is Seattle, which has been included again in this list. ;-)

• Seattle, Washington - Who wasn't surprised when it didn't come out on Street View's latest update? They did 37 new cities, none including the Emerald City.
• Portland and Bangor, Maine - Maine seems to be left out of the Street View service. Why not include the state's largest city, and the city most famous for lobster fishing?
• Flagstaff, Arizona - The major city with loads of tourists on their way to the amazing Grand Canyon, the location of the discovery of the planet Pluto, and major Route 66 stop, isn't in Street View yet. It seems it wasn't close enough to Phoenix?
• Memphis, Tennessee - Not only a huge city, but the home of...the home of...the King, of course!
• Baltimore and Annapolis, Maryland - The largest city in Maryland and Maryland's capital city. Although close to Washington, shouldn't these be added soon?
• El Paso, Texas and Las Cruces, New Mexico - El Paso is a very large city, and Las Cruces is the second-largest in New Mexico, and also nearby White Sands National Monument, which would be quite a sight in Street View. However, being so close to Mexico, these cities might take a while to complete.

Seattle and Baltimore Spot Street View

According to CHS Capitol Hill Seattle, a Street View car has been spotted in Seattle, Washington, with the SICK Lasers on top. The two places it was spotted in were at a Home Depot and a parking lot by Starbucks HQ.

According to an anonymous commenter here on Street View Stuff, a Street View car has also been found roaming the streets of Baltimore, Maryland. The car was spotted at the Historic Fells Point of the city. This could mean that the District of Columbia is being Street Viewed, too, but there are higher security risks.

Columbus is Clueless

In Columbus, Ohio, one of the new Street View cities, 36-year-old Carla Sue Boswell and her three children were found playing at their house on Google Maps Street View in nearby Grove City, as reported by local NBC 4 WCMH.

There are many things wrong with this.

1. Instead of referring to Google Maps at its appropriate address, they claim the website is called GoogleMaps.com, which is clearly incorrect.
2. Carla doesn't need to be worried, since the images of her children were not only low-resolution, but their faces were blurred.
3. It's interesting how many children in Columbus were found on Google Maps Street View playing outside their house by their concerned parents.
4. They are redundant in their previous article, where they ask the same question people have been asking for the past year, and they ask the same question twice.
5. In that same article, instead of interviewing the parent directly (he wasn't home), they interviewed his neighbor, whose home "was also photographed."
6. NBC 4's Amy Basista was explaining how Street View worked, and said that zooming in enlarges the picture, which is incorrect, since the imagery is no longer high-resolution.

What's the point of all this? Well, it shows how paranoid many people are, and their assumptions are often false. What should we do about it? Well, Google's done much about it already. They've done the face-blur feature, and the low resolution, which is plenty safe.
So there is still no need to worry over Street View capturing images of people, since those people are made anonymous.

Canadian Street View...eh?

In the Buffalo, New York, area, which was released in Street View yesterday, you could see a bit of blue highlighted street that went into Ontario, Canada, on the Peace Bridge. But after going to check it out, this is what was left:


View Larger Map

Apparently, there were still a few security concerns with adding Canada to Street View, even if it's only a bridge over a river. This could mean that Google isn't planning Canadian Street View anytime soon.

All New Locations

Google's new batch of Street View locations really surprised most of us. Instead of doing only 14 cities, Google sent Street View cars pretty much all over the state! There were only fourteen new camera icons on Google Maps, but as you can see, they covered a lot more. Here is the total list of new locations:

1. Salem, Oregon
2. Santa Rosa, California
3. Sacramento, California
4. Lassen Volcanic National Park, California
5. Modesto, California
6. Fresno, California
7. Bakersfield, California
8. Kings Canyon National Park, California
9. Sequoia National Park, California
10. Death Valley National Park, California
11. Palm Springs, California
12. Reno, Nevada
13. Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming
14. Grand Teton National Park, Wyoming
15. Omaha, Nebraska
16. Oklahoma City, Oklahoma
17. Tulsa, Oklahoma
18. Topeka, Kansas
19. Saint Louis, Missouri
20. Jackson, Mississippi
21. Louisville, Kentucky
22. Lexington, Kentucky
23. Knoxville, Tennessee
24. Huntsville, Alabama
25. Ann Arbor, Michigan
26. Cincinnati, Ohio
27. Dayton, Ohio
28. Toledo, Ohio
29. Columbus, Ohio
30. Atlanta, Georgia
31. Cape Coral, Florida
32. Key West, Florida
33. Jacksonville, Florida
34. Greenville, South Carolina
35. Columbia, South Carolina
36. Charlotte, North Carolina
37. Winston-Salem, North Carolina
38. Virginia Beach, Virginia
39. Buffalo, New York
40. Rochester, New York
41. Syracuse, New York
42. Hartford, Connecticut
43. Springfield, Massachusetts
44. Worcester, Massachusetts

And that doesn't even include all the other smaller cities beside them also covered. If a picture is worth a thousand words, then here's a more detailed description:

In fact, there are so many locations now, that the list of Street View locations on Wikipedia has been nominated for deletion. It had to happen sometime.

But what's interesting is that Raytown in Missouri, and South Hill in Virginia, have not been added yet, and there have been some Street View car sightings in those areas.

What's next? Australia, of course!

Lou Piniella

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Yep, that's Chicago Cubs manager Lou Piniella. This has become quite a Street View phenomenon over the past few days.

UPDATE: The image has been replaced as of June 10, 2008.

14 New Street View Locations!

After a long wait, our patience has finally paid off, because today, fourteen new Street View locations are available, and the current locations have been greatly updated. The new locations are:

1. Sacramento, CA
2. Fresno, CA
3. Yellowstone National Park, WY
4. Oklahoma City, OK
5. St Louis, MO
6. Jackson, MS
7. Louisville, KY
8. Atlanta, GA
9. Columbus, OH
10. Jacksonville, FL
11. Columbia, SC
12. Charlotte, NC
13. Buffalo, NY
14. Virginia Beach, VA

However, these aren't the only new locations. According to Google LatLong, the actual number of new areas is 37! Thank you so much for the huge surprise, Google! We're loving the new Street View!

New features include:

• The camera icons for many cities are not displayed; only the main area is.
• The Street View car has been digitally removed.
• All imagery has been run through the Street View Face Blurrer.

It is too wonderful to describe in words: Check it out for yourself on Google Maps!

View Larger Map

Old Faithful Inn, Old Faithful, Wyoming

Spanish Astra Sightings on a My Map

http://maps.google.com/maps/ms?hl=en&ie=UTF8&oe=UTF8&msa=0&msid=118311101010071607397.00044db82d808dfc2c28f&ll=39.554883,-1.933594&spn=7.637764,13.535156&z=6

The above link (or http://tinyurl.com/5m9eqo) will take you to a Google My Map of the Street View sightings in Spain. The information is in Spanish, but the information given is very detailed. The purple camera icons, when clicked, will display a photograph of the Street View Astra found at that location. The blue pins will display information on the sighting. Along with Madrid, Barcelona, Sevilla, and Valencia, there is one blue pin near Zaragoza, another major Spanish city.

This is an amazing map. I highly insist you check it out. If you cannot read Spanish, you can use Google Translate to read the placemarks on the map.

Also, Zaragoza has been added to the list of upcoming Street View locations.

Seriously, now, give them a break!

Yesterday, the town of North Oaks, Minnesota, requested that their Street Views be removed because the streets were all private. Google removed them immediately.

Unfortunately, this trivial matter has been lately commented on in blogs throughout the Internet. Check out some of these post titles:

"Minnesota Community Gives Google Street View The Boot"
"Minnesota town tells Google Maps to get lost"
"Minnesota Town Tells Google Maps: Keep out - We Mean It!"
"Camera Shy Minnesota Town Bans Google Maps Street View"

Only Pulse 2.0 had an appropriate title for the event: "North Oaks, Minnesota, Wanted Photos Of Their City Off Google Maps Street View; Google Fixes The Problem Quickly"

So why are so many people exaggerating this issue? Well, it could be because of Boring people. None of the first four titles are appropriate because North Oaks was not rude in any way towards Google, and they were not camera shy; their reason was perfectly legitimate: The roadsin the town were private.

Seriously, guys, give them a break!

Even more photos of London

Sorry if I'm a bit late on this; just trying to find a reliable source took a while.

A Google Street View car has been found driving the streets of London, in the United Kingdom. London is commonly known as the most photographed city on the planet. Unfortunately, the European Union is a little uncomfortable with Google's plan, but a little face-blurring should do the trick.