More Street View in Four Nations

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Today, four nations have received Street View; one nation, Mexico, has never had any imagery before. The five new locations are:

1. Hawai'i, United States (Maui and Oahu)
2. Mexican major cities
3. Canary Islands, Spain
4. Spain (mainland)
5. Netherlands

Congratulations to the new Street View locations, and thank you to Google!

Mexico Monday

According to VatorNews, Google is planning to add Mexican Street View imagery on Monday, November 9, 2009. The cities included are planned to be:

• Cancún
• Ciudad de México
• Cozumel
• Guadalajara
• Monterrey
• Playa del Carmen
• Puerto Vallarta

Yesterday, Google Maps released their Mexican website, so it would be natural to add Street View immediately afterward.

Google Australia Team Poses for Camera

The Sydney Morning Herald has a video clip available on its website of the Google Australia team posing for their appearances in Google Street View.

New Views in Australia

Next month, Google plans to start taking new photographs for Australian Street View to give users a more up-to-date experience.

See more information at the Google Australia blog.

Newer Zealand

Yesterday, Google New Zealand Blog announced that the Kiwi Street View imagery is scheduled for an update, this time with higher resolution photographs such as those in Europe and Canada. Also, face-blurring technology is planned to be implemented.

The first region to get the new photographs is Auckland, starting this week. So for those of you in New Zealand, as the National Business Review says, "Brush your hair and avoid massage parlours."

Twin CN Towers

Found in Toronto:

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Update! Mettre à jour! Aktualizovat!

Today, many of the streets of Canada and the Czech Republic are now visible in Street View! Here are the Canadian regions:

• Banff National Park
• Calgary, Alberta
• Halifax, Nova Scotia
• Hamilton, Ontario
• Kitchener, Ontario
• Montréal, Quebec
• Ottawa, Ontario
• Québec, Quebec
• Toronto, Ontario
• Vancouver, British Columbia

And in the Czech Republic, the most coverage is in and around the Praha area, but then extends to Beroun, Brno, Mělník, Poděbrady, and Příbram.

I can't wait to see what these countries' streets have to offer! Thanks, Google!

Confusing Crashes Caught

Jalopnik has put out a funny article about ten very confusing car accidents that have been found on Street View. They range from too many police officers to very poor parking. Take a look for yourself!

Cute Google Animation

This video was recently released by the folks at Google Japan to show how the Street View process works.

South African Street View

According to Bizcommunity.com, Google SA is working to release Street View for South Africa. They seem to plan to release this imagery in time for the 2010 FIFA World Cup. Toyota is teaming up with Google to provide the camera cars.

Google Brings Back Link

A feature which was previously in Google Maps, but then removed for some strange reason, has returned. When searching for a business in a Street View-covered area, a link now appears to view that business's building in Street View.

A new addition to this feature is the appearance of the red placemark pin:

Swiss Watchdog

Yesterday, a data protection "watchdog" officer in Switzerland told Google to immediately remove Swiss Street View coverage from the Internet, according to the Sydney Morning Herald. The group claims that Google did not follow the privacy conditions they apparently agreed to.

Actually, the only problem with the coverage is that some faces and license plates have not been blurred. Hopefully, Google will repair this imagery soon.

August 2009 Worldwide Update

This long-overdue update (sorry about the prediction, guys! ;-) has finally been put on the map. Three new nations are now covered in Street View: Portugal, Switzerland, and Taiwan. Swizterland has the best coverage of them all; Portugal only has coverage in Lisbon and Porto, and Taiwan only has coverage in Taipei City.


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According to Google LatLong's official announcement of this update, some new interesting Partner Program locations have been added: Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca, Thunderhill Raceway Park (which the Street View car was spotted at months ago), San Diego State University, and Legoland California.

Picture Perfect

A Kentucky painter named Bill Guffey likes to paint pictures of scenes in cities around the world, but he has not been to any of them. According to ABC News, he solved that problem by virtually visiting those places in Street View! These paintings have sold for hundreds, sometimes thousands, of dollars.

Although Street View images may not be the best-looking photographs you've seen of a place, Bill can transform them into something beautiful.

My Work Here is Done (Most of it, Anyway)

For the past twenty months, I've shown you loyal readers a list of certain upcoming Street View locations from news sources and blogs all over the Internet, and I've kept a list of current locations on this blog's right sidebar. Now, Google Maps has an official Street View database where all this information can be found, along with lots of other cool stuff. I've posted a link to this site right here on the blog so it will be easier to find for visitors.

Don't worry, I'll keep you guys updated on the latest Street View buzz, but remember that Google now has a website especially for listing current and upcoming locations, so I would recommend heading over there for that information.

According to the new Street View website, cities all over Canada, Germany, and Switzerland are being photographed. That answers the question of Germany and Switzerland's privacy laws. It looks like Google has once again steered clear of those obstacles.

Land of the Midnight Street View

According to Life in the Knife, the capital city of Canada's Northwest Territories, Yellowknife, is being photographed by Google Street View.

Also, according to CBC News, the not-so-nearby city of Whitehorse (in Canada's Yukon territory) is also being covered. The driver of that car was told not to conduct any interviews, but said that he'd been driving through Whitehorse for the past three days.

The Canadian Street View release should be huge.

Getting Fancy

Today, Google has changed the way Street View works with a new 3D-type feature that is viewable whenever you click the arrow buttons. You can try it out below:

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This is very similar to EveryScape's 3D motion feature.

What are your thoughts on this new feature? Is it a slight improvement, or does it take away from the simplicity Street View once had?

One Small Step for Pegman

In honor of the 40th anniversary of the Apollo 11 moon landing, Google Maps has made Pegman into an astronaut today. Interestingly, the artists at Google decided to design an outfit different from Pegman's cousin on Google Moon.

Thanks, Steven!

Google Soap View

According to Telegraph.co.uk, the set of the soap opera Coronation Street was recently photographed by Google Street View cameras. These views are planned to be released in a few days. One interviewee said that "Corrie" is one of the most famous streets in Britain, even though it is fictional.

Unlike the Street With a View project, no special poses by cast members of the show were made, as far as I know.

Brasileiro Carros estão Aqui

According to Fernando Quadro, Google cars have been roaming Brazil since July 2, 2009. Three states are currently being filmed:

1. Minas Gerais
2. Rio de Janeiro
3. São Paulo

Crazy for College Campuses

According to The Wired Campus, the Google Trike team is planning to take Street View photos for college campuses. So far, the following three colleges are being photographed:

1. California State University at San Diego
2. University of San Diego
3. University of Pennsylvania

If you're a college student, keep an eye out for the Google Trike!

Suspects Sighted with Street View

This has been all over the Internet. I usually don't post popular Street View news like this, but it's a slow Street View week.

Tons of News

Sorry for the delay; I try not to blog on Sundays.

Changing the Rules: To appease the strict privacy rules of the European Union, Google has agreed to stop holding the original (non-blurred, non-edited) Street View video files. However, this would mean there is more chance for error in the pictures, and these errors are nearly impossible to fix. Be prepared for thousands of coverage gaps in the middle of European streets. Read more here.

Google Trike Update: Two main new locations were added from Google Trike imagery this week: Disneyland Paris and a bicycle trail in Monterey, California. Read more here and here.

Pancake Navigation

Google has released a new smart navigation tool feature called the "pancake". This way, you don't need to continue to click the Street View arrows to get from one place to another; you can zoom across from one point to another. To use it, just hover your mouse until you see a three-dimensional transparent oval or rectangle. Double-clicking it will zoom the Street View to adjust to that specific location. The 3D-like effects are similar to EveryScape's, but you only use them if you want to. If you double-click a rectangle, it will zoom to a view of that part of a facade. It's too amazing to describe in words, so try it out for yourself!

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Here's a video of the new feature:

Twitter Tracking

It turns out that Twitter is an excellent place for finding Street View sightings. Just searching for "Google Street View car" has revealed that people have apparently recently seen Street View cars in Los Angeles, New York, and Austin–three locations that haven't been reported yet! Since regular blog posts can't keep up with this, a new widget has been placed on this blog's sidebar, "Twitter Car Sightings". Hopefully, it will help us keep up with locations not covered by the media. I'll save the regular blog posts for media coverage.

So, get ready for updated imagery in the United States!

Street View Holodeck

Some Google employees have built a "Holodeck" that provides an amazing Street View experience. You can read more about it at Google Blogoscoped.

Google Trike Trying Suggestions

Google has recently released an official website about the "Google Trike" that's been spotted. It turns out, this feature is currently only available in the United Kingdom.

Google is talking suggestions for British locations that people would like to see on Street View but aren't reachable by car. To suggest a location, go to the Google Trike submission form. It's free and anonymous.

VisitBritain is helping out with this new feature. And yes, Google has found someone strong enough to ride it!

Pegman's Tricycle

In San Diego, California, the owner of a bicycle shop discovered a tricycle-like device with the Google logo on it, along with Street View laser cameras. This could be a new form of providing Street View panoramas in areas where cars cannot reach, but my hope is that it means Google is planning to release indoor Street View.

The mystery continues...

Samochody w Polsce (a Česká republika)

Krakow Post reports that Google Polska has announced Street View imagery being constructed for two cities in Poland: Krakow and Warsaw.

This is great news, but another European nation has been reported to be upcoming (one that even Street View Stuff didn't know about). According to the same article, three countries were listed as also being upcoming. Greece and Hungary were listed, along with a surprise nation, the Czech Republic!

Actually, the Czech addition isn't too surprising, since Google cars have been spotted in many other European nations.

Jittery Japanese II

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Looks like the Japanese are complaining again.

According to BBC NEWS, Google is planning to drive through the streets of Japan again. This time, the cameras will be forty centimeters lower than they were before so they can "respect the privacy of homeowners."

In Japan, buildings and homes are built closer to the street than in other nations, so Google has been apparently capturing some interesting views of people's everyday (or not) lives.

Note: Google was not forced to retake their photos; they are doing this as a favor to the citizens of Japan.

New Arrows

On Google Maps, Street View panoramas have a yellow line that roughly follows the road. This tool is for navigation. You can click the two white arrows to "drive" on roads, and also turn at intersections. Now the arrows have been updated!

Now, instead of growing larger when your cursor hovers over them, they will highlight blue.

Down the Stweet

There is a new website called Stweet that combines the popular mini-blogging website Twitter with the totally awesome Google Maps Street View.

Just go to Stweet and choose a location with Street View. Then, the website will show you the location of a recent Twitter "tweet" in that location using Street View.

If the tweet location isn't available in Street View, a Google Maps satellite photo of the area will be displayed instead.

όχι!

The Hellenic Republic has told Google to postpone sending their Street View camera cars to Greek roads until they can assure the government that it does not violate the strict privacy laws of Greece in any way. USA TODAY reports that this decision was made on May 11th by the Data Protection Authority of Greece.

The Hellenic Data Protection Authority stated that "simply marking the car" is not a good enough method of notifying Greece of the presence of Google cars roaming the nation.

The Authority has also halted kapou.gr until it uses more privacy features like face-blurring, which Google Street View already provides.

This Greek order could set the standard for many other possible Street View-covered nations in the future. However, Germany and Switzerland have already laid down the law in front of Google before. Germany seems to be allowing the images soon, but Switzerland has not made any such promises yet, as far as we know.

Privacy issues haven't been a challenge for Google in the past, and this new Greek stuff is unlikely to become a problem for them.

Az Autók Megérkeztek

Google's really working on their European Street View coverage. On May 5, Google cars arrived in Budapest, the capital city of Hungary, according to Caboodle.hu.

Also, the Westmeath Independent reports that Athlone, Ireland, is also being photographed by Street View cars.

Avoiding the Rush

According to The Earth Times, Google Germany has agreed to let Germans censor their Street View imagery before it is released onto Google Maps and Earth. This is an excellent decision, for it will help Google avoid as many privacy-invasion outbursts as possible from this nation.

Previously, Google had taken pictures of cities in northwest Germany, but they, along with Switzerland, prevented Google from releasing them online. Now it looks like Google's ready to continue. I wonder what will happen in Switzerland?

Kanalima!

Over the past four days, at least three people have spotted a Street View camera car in the state of Hawai'i, according to Hawaii Blog. In fact, eBay cofounder Pierre Omidyar was riding his scooter in Hawai'i when a car passed him. As seen on his Twitter page, he's not very happy about that.

Currently, the only American state not available in Street View is Hawai'i. It looks like Google has finally found a way to get some of their cars to those remote islands. Pegman's also been touring the Canary Islands, Singapore, and Taiwan. But Hawai'i is so far away from mainland that it's often not considered a part of any continent.

Google's putting those cameras to work! Get ready to virtually visit the Aloha State!

Hei, Google.

According to Helsingin Sanomat, Google Street View cars are roaming around the nation of Finland, photographing Helsinki and other areas.

A few Finns have complained about the time of year in Finland, which apparently isn't very good for taking photographs. However, Google Finland country manager Petri Kokko said that the feedback for the photographing has been 99% positive.

Kettering Coming

According to the Northants Evening Telegraph, the English city of Kettering is being photographed by Google. The Street View car has been seen all over the city.

According to the writing, "it is hoped" that the coverage will go online "by the end of 2010."

The article's a good read. You can tell that a few Kettering residents don't know the law too well.

Google har Indfundet sig

According to The Copenhagen Post, Google Denmark country director Peter Friis released a statement saying that the Danish cities of Århus, Copenhagen, and Odense were being photographed for Street View, as of two days ago.

If true, Denmark will be the nth European nation to have Street View imagery. Then Google will have only n more to go. The current European nations Pegman has visited are:

1. France
2. Italy
3. Spain
4. United Kingdom
5. Nederland

Germany already has some coverage, but due to privacy laws, they are not available yet.

UK Cars

Here is a list of different locations throughout the United Kingdom where Street View cars have been spotted, according to the Telegraph and News & Star.

• Bexhill-on-Sea
  
• Blackburn
  
• Bolton
  
• Buckingham
  
• Carlisle
  
• Chelmsford
  
• Cumbria
  
• Eastbourne
  
• Ipswich
  
• Perthshire
  
• Reading
  
• Royal Tunbridge Wells
  
• Renfrewshire
  
• Worthing
  

Google's coverage of the United Kingdom could become the best in Europe within a year or two.

On to Toronto!

According to the National Post, Google will release its Torontonian Street View imagery within weeks!

Apparently, Google already has Street View imagery from two years ago when the feature was added to Google Maps. Cassandra Jowett writes that Google's cars are acquiring more recent photographs for the locations they had missed.

Here are some of the locations in Toronto spotted by locals:

• A firefighter followed a camera car along the Gardiner Expressway from Spadina Avenue to the South Kingsway.
• Someone saw a Chevy cobalt at the intersection of Yonge Street and Eglinton Avenue.
• South of Bloor University on University Avenue.
• One car was seen as far away as Branton, about twenty miles from downtown Toronto.

In the past, whenever a new nation was released on Street View, more than just one city was added. According to this post, Toronto is only one of the eleven cities Google is filming. If it's true that Google's had Canadian imagery since 2007, then it might not be too long before Pegman helps us around the entire Great White North.

Oz Online!

Earlier today, Google released Street View imagery for the Land of Oz. All five Ozzian countries and districts have been covered:

1. East Oz
   
2. Emerald District
3. North Oz
4. South Oz
5. West Oz*

*There is little coverage in West Oz; it ends about one mile before the castle.

As with most previous releases, some citizens have made complaints about the service. According to QuadlingWeekly.oz, a Munchkin couple has filed a lawsuit against Google for taking photographs of their farm, even though the only available coverage was a scarecrow whose face was blurred.

In Emerald City, one citizen complained to a member of the royal guard about the Google van's illegal black color. The wizard has not made any comments about this issue.

This release was quite a surprise, not only because there were no major Google car sightings, but also because of the dangerous methods of getting into the country. Google, you've done it again!

Primelocation Puts Panoramas on Pages

The United Kingdom-based real estate search website Primelocation has recently added a Street View feature to its search. When browsing search results, go to a property details page, and click the "local information and maps" tab. A Google Street View button should appear. Clicking it will open a new window with the Street View imagery for that property's location.

If you're looking for a home in the United Kingdom, try Primelocation.com! It's very easy.

Canada Coming Soon!

Well, turns out that this recent post was right. According to the Montreal Gazette, eleven cities in Canada are being photographed by Street View cars:

1. Calgary, Alberta
2. Edmonton, Alberta
3. Halifax, Nova Scotia
4. Montreal, Quebec
5. Ottawa, Ontario
6. Quebec City, Quebec
7. Saint John, New Brunswick
8. Saskatoon, Saskatchewan
9. Toronto, Ontario
10. Vancouver, British Columbia
11. Winnipeg, Manitoba

My response to claudia64, who pointed this out (thanks!): No, I don't work for Google. ;)

Google Car in Banbury

A black car with cameras has been spotted numerous times in Banbury, England. You can read about it at the Banbury Guardian website. According to the image, that is definitely the Google Street View car.

The British Street View imagery has caused quite a bit of excitement lately. Check out this lawsuit against Google (yes, again) at BBC News. The United Kingdom ranks #7 in number of Internet users, and nearly 7 out of 10 Brits use the Internet. The excitement isn't too surprising.

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

It's been a while since the last "Can or Can't" post, but after the worldwide update last week, it's time for another one!

• Adirondack Mountains - This is a huge portion of the American state of New York, and only a few major roads go through it, but there are still plenty of nice drives to take. Why not put them on Street View for the whole world to see?
• Hawai'i, United States - This has been on the CAN Believe it's not in Street View post before, but now it should be covered for a few reasons: Google can reach islands now (Sardegna, Italy; Japan; New Zealand), it's the only American land not in Street View yet, there aren't as many roads in Hawai'i as other US states, and Google already has imagery for the Canary Islands. Surely they can cover Hawai'i by now.
• Olympic National Park, Washington - Street View provides imagery for beautiful national parks all over the world, but interestingly, there is no coverage for the northwest peninsula of the state of Washington. As mentioned by a few commenters of this blog, it is a beautiful region that would look excellent in Google Maps and Earth.
• The Hague, Nederland - Only three major cities in the Netherlands have Views. The Hague is a very large city with plenty of history, and right in between Amsterdam and Rotterdam, there really shouldn't be a reason for it to be left out of the Street View feature.
• West Coast, New Zealand - New Zealand has the most complete Street View coverage of any nation in the world. But the only part that doesn't have complete coverage is the West Coast. Why?

Canada Coming Soon?

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There used to be some Street View coverage for Canada, but it has been removed. The Google car has certainly been to Canada, but all Canadian Street View imagery has been kept off of the Internet.

However, past events in Street View history show that Canadian Street View might not be too far away.

As you may have heard, MapJack and Canpages have teamed up to produce street-level panoramas for Canada already. This is similar to previous companies trying to outdo Google.

1. EveryScape released imagery for the city of Washington on April 7, 2008. On November 4, Google released imagery for Washington, Baltimore, and Seattle. EveryScape hasn't made the news since.
2. Seety released imagery for London on October 16, 2008. On March 18, 2009, Google released imagery for all major cities in the United Kingdom, along with more American, Dutch, French, Italian, and Spanish locations. Seety is no longer updating their website.

If Google continues to impress us with tremendous updates like those, we could expect Canadian Street View to show up in time for the 2010 Olympic Games in Vancouver.

However, there is one thing I feel I must remind you about: there have been no major Street View car sightings anywhere in Canada yet, so please don't get too excited. This blog's predictions on the right only include locations where Google cars have been spotted.

Also, there must be a reason why Google imagery stops right at the Canadian border. We'll have to find out, eh?

First Update of 2009

Good news, Street View Stuff readers! More Street View imagery has been added all over Europe: in France, Italy, the Netherlands, Spain, and the United Kingdom. You can see this for yourself at maps.google.com.

Some interesting notes about this update:

• Some coverage for the island of Sardinia has been added.
• Although none or few Street View car sightings were reported there, there is Street View coverage for the Belfast area of Northern Ireland in the United Kingdom.
• There is no coverage of The Hague in the Netherlands.
• Some French Street View comes very close to Germany, but there is none in Germany at all. This was predicted, however; although there were reports that German Street View would be released in Spring 2009, there were also some legal issues that Germany (and Switzerland) used to prevent Google's imagery from being made available on the service.

Have fun exploring the new Views!

Google Visits Ireland

According to the Irish Times, Google has reported that they will be adding coverage to five major cities in the Republic of Ireland:

1. Cork
   
2. Dublin
3. Galway
4. Limerick
5. Waterford

Google has not released any dates for this release, but the timing of the announcement is somewhat appropriate.

Please Don't Put My Planet on the Internet

Joal Anderson is a legislator from California. He must have heard one of the following false statements:

• Google Earth is a crime tool.
• Google Earth is a threat to security.
• Blurring Google Earth imagery and Street View imagery will save us.

Because that's exactly what he's proposing with Assembly Bill 255, according to Macworld.

If passed, not only would many buildings have to be blurred out in Google Earth, the same would have to be done with Google's Street View feature.

Street View Imagery Coverage by Nation

Here is a bar graph of the amount of Street View coverage by nation:

Google might want to improve their European coverage, no?

Photo Fun!

Street View has been given a small makeover: while viewing Street View in Google Maps, there is a border around the Street View window that will turn blue when you hover over the "x".

But the biggest and most exciting change about Street View is a new feature called user photos.

Now, when you view popular Street Views in Barcelona, New York, New Zealand, Rome, San Francisco, Sydney, and Tokyo, a small image thumbnail will appear in the Street View's upper-right corner with the caption "User Photos".

Clicking this icon will adjust the Street View and open the first of a whole set of photos provided by Panoramio users. Panoramio, a service from Google, is a great way to share your geolocated photos. Google has reviewed many of these millions of pictures, and placed them into Street View for your enjoyment.

This new feature can be very useful for Street Views with not-so-good-looking atmosphere, like some taken on dark, cloudy days. User photos, I predict, will soon be popping up all over the Street View world. That would be fun!

Imágenes de las Islas

According to the Gran Canario Info Forum, a Google Street View car has been found in the Canary Islands, a Spanish archipelago of the coast of northwestern Africa.

As one member pointed out in the forum, the sides of the black Street View van were quite dented. Someone is a bit too concerned about privacy, perhaps?

Agaete, the location of the sighting, has been added to this blog's "Upcoming Street View Locations" Google My Map.

Exciting Results of Boring Lawsuit

You may have heard about the lawsuit on Google by Aaron and Christina Boring. You can read more about it here and here.

Well, the results have been talked about all over the Internet: Google won! Again! Actually, the case was dismissed by a federal court judge.

The images are still taken down for privacy, but Street View is still available to us on Google Maps and Google Earth. Hopefully, this feature will still be here in the future.

Pete's Privacy

According to The Boston Globe, a man named Peter Funt is concerned about Google Street View invading his privacy. This is not unusual, but there really is nothing to worry about with Google Street View, for many reasons that have been listed before.

Today, another Globe article talks about Peter Funt's concern that burglars could find his home's open window on the second floor and take it as an invitation to come rob his house. Hey, Peter? How about just locking the window?

Lately, Google released a new service called Latitude, which you can use to track your friends' locations with your phones. Mr. Funt calls the service "eavesdropping". As pointed out by the Globe's Michael Sierra, Latitude is an "opt-in" service, which is not eavesdropping. Thank you, Mr. Sierra.

Make Your Own Street View

At Gizmodo, Adam Frucci has started a Street View-themed Photoshop Contest.

Adam writes:

We're always finding strange things in Google Street View. But there are some things that, chances are, we'll never, ever see using the service. Let's change that.

If you have Photoshop and some Photoshopping skills, you can send your entries to Adam at contests@gizmodo.com by February 10, 2009.

The Poor Deer

Wendy Wang wrote a post on the Google LatLong blog explaining an accident with a Street View car in New York.

While the Street View car was driving along Five Points Road near Rush, New York, a deer was run over by it. The images of this collision were removed after someone posted the link and image to The Daily What and increased tremendously in popularity.

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Going forward on the above Street View will show you the location of removed images where the deer was hit.

Many people found this funny on reddit.

No Comment

The Sydney Morning Herald reports on people who were found on Street View doing "private" things. You can read this for yourself.

Drive the Parade Route

Today is Inauguration Day in the United States, so News.com.au's blog Stars 'n' Snipes has put together a virtual Street View tour of the Inaugural Parade route, complete with directions using the Street View API.

Many Australians do not seem to approve of the somewhat cheap plugin, as you can see by the many negative comments on the bottom of the page.

Time for Taiwan

According to DigiTimes, a Google Taiwan managing director has stated that Street View imagery in Taiwan will be online in late 2009.

Street View cars were spotted in Taipei City, Taiwan, in early October 2008. Taiwanese Street View will be appreciated by tourists who cannot skillfully read Chinese. Well, only if they are smart enough to go to Google Maps.

Street View Saves the Day

According to the Worcester Telegram and Gazette, a girl is no longer missing thanks to some Internet technology.

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Here's the story: Natalie Maltais, a nine-year-old resident of Ahtol, Massachusetts, was reported missing. Todd Neale, a police officer, decided to use some Internet technology to find Natalie's location. Here is how the technology was used:

cell phone GPS: dialed the number and tracked her cell phone

Google: searched for location, Natural Bridge, Virginia

Google Street View: found a view of the area, and found a Budget Inn that looked interesting

Google Earth imagery: used Google's satellite imagery to find the hotel

After many clues, Officer Neale guessed that Natalie was in the hotel. After some searching there, she was found.

Natalie will be with her family soon. Thank you, Street View!