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?

View Larger Map

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.