Sydney Street View Spy Game

You have signed up to be a spy. You rent a hotel in Sydney. The next morning, Agent X gives you your first mission. That is the setting of a new Street View game found by Google Maps Mania. Try it out! The game might not work properly for some Internet Explorer users.

Street View Stuff will post a few hints if you get stuck, but only if you get stuck, please. Use a keyword cipher for the hints, only if you need them, please! ;-)

You're at the hotel at the beginning oF THE GAme.
GM SG QQ GH GO SD NM

You're reading the secoND MESsage.
NL KS IS TT SQ RU DR TF TU TF LK MF OC SQ

You're talking to the GUARD.
JM QJ MA MQ 01
GP DN JG AD KD LS

Have fun!

Panorama Paranoia

This PCAnswer post by Larry Magid tells of a new group, StopInternetPredators.org, which is trying to ban Street View for the safety of children. The video above shows a mother concerned about pedophiles using Street View to locate "even your children".

Why parents have nothing to worry about:

1. The photographs on Street View are not very detailed.
2. All photographs of people that are distinguishable are blurred.
3. While photographs of homes are visible, addresses of those homes are not, and Google Maps has not perfected its addressing algorithm, either.

Outside the Box

I received an email from a Street View user who wanted to know why Street View coverage ends in Gridley, California. It's because of an interesting phenomenon where all imagery for a certain location is inside an imaginary rectangle. All or most roads within the box are put in Street View, but the question is...why?

This isn't only in California; Nashville, Toledo, Rochester, and Wichita also are contained in boxes. These boxes are only located in the United States.

Graphing Street View Updates

The above chart graphs the increasing number of Street View locations over time. Currently there are 100. If this graph were continued to predict the next update, the number for the next update would be approximately 144.

The Memphis Mystery

After 14 months of adding Street View to United States coverage, Google has covered quite a bit of the country. In fact, they have covered almost every metropolitan area in America. Except for Memphis. To quote this Commercial Appeal article, "Huh?"

Google does hope to cover every street in the world eventually, and yes, this includes Memphis. But as to why Memphis has not been covered yet, and places like Billings, Abilene, Springfield (both), and huge areas of Nebraskan farmland south of Omaha, are already available. According to the article, a Google spokeswoman claimed that "Memphis is bit more isolated than than other cities."


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According to this satellite image, Memphis looks pretty big, but to the northwest, there are lots of farms, which isn't too much fun in Street View. However, to the south and east, it appears that there's enough population to cover. Why hasn't Memphis been covered yet? Google says because of its isolation. What could isolation mean? It's a huge city, so why not?

It could be the distance from a Google office. The nearest office to Memphis is in Atlanta, Georgia, and it would still take about 6 hours and 22 minutes to get to Memphis from there. (Thank you, Google Maps directions!)

Memphis isn't the only city that's mysteriously not covered. Seattle hasn't been done yet. However, no need to worry, since Google Street View cars have already been spotted there, and in Baltimore.

San Francisco, Street View Style!

Keir Clarke, who has much experience with the Street View API, has created a very interesting virtual tour of San Francsico, California, in Street View. The tour starts at Lombard Street, and as you move along, different descriptions of the street you are visiting will display, giving you more info on where you're at. Some places don't currently have descriptions yet, but feel free to add them!

Street View Car Crosses Private Bridge

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The Street View car has made another accident along with the large update. This bridge that cross from New Mexico to Texas is a private bridge owned by American Eagle Brick in El Paso, Texas. Hopefully, no one will blame Google again.

Super Street View Update!

A huge amount of new Street View was added today, right on cue with the predictions! Along with lots of new American locations, locations in Japan and Australia have also been added. Here is the list of new locations:

Australia

1. Adelaide, SA
2. Albany, WA
3. Alice Springs, NT
4. Brisbane, QLD
5. Broken Hill, NSW
6. Broome, WA
7. Cairns, QLD
8. Canberra, ACT
9. Geraldton, WA
10. Hobart, TAS
11. Karratha, WA
12. Melbourne, VIC
13. Mt Isa, QLD
14. Perth, WA
15. Rockhampton, QLD
16. Sydney, NSW
17. Tamworth, NSW

Japan

1. Chiba
2. Hakodate
3. Kobe
4. Kyoto
5. Osaka
6. Saitama
7. Sapporo
8. Sendai
9. Tokyo
10. Yokohama

United States

1. New Orleans, LA

Now, many many many more locations in the United States have been added. In fact, about half of California is now covered.

No Borders in Street View

Street View is now available for three countries: France, Italy, and the United States. At one point, Street View was avilable for a few meters in Canada, on the Peace Bridge across the Niagara River in Buffalo's coverage. This is what is left in its place:


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At one point, these images were available, and I remember seeing them; they did not show anything questionable. Why were they removed?

The Tour de France route goes partly into Cuneo, Italy, which is available in high-resolution Street View. For the most part, Street View follows the exact Tour de France route. However, when it comes to the border between France and Italy, it is not covered. Why not? See this view:


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This is as far into the Alps the Street View van went, for some reason. But now check out this other view:


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Keep moving forward on the above view, and you'll see that Google's car drives right over that pile of snow without any marks! How does that happen? But the car finally stops when it comes to this larger pile of snow a bit later:


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In the United States, Street View cars go almost anywhere they wish, even sometimes accidentally on private property. But many of these coverage areas in America go across state borders; for example, the Philadelphia/Wilmington coverage area in Pennsylvania and Delaware has some coverage in Maryland. But some coverage areas come close to state borders, but turn around; for example, the Huntsville coverage area in Alabama comes quite close to Tennessee, but stops.

So if you'd like to see state border signs on Street View, there are plenty. But if you'd like to see national border signs, you might have to wait for quite a while.

Told you so!

The Information Commissioner of the United Kingdom has stated that Google Street View will not breach any of their privacy laws. In fact, it was satisfied that Google "was doing enough" to protect individuals' privacy.

Hooray!