Google Street View is a feature of Google Maps and Google Earth that provides 360° horizontal and 290° vertical panoramicviews from a row of positions along the street (one every approximately 10 or 20 metres) for many streets in the world, from a height of about 2.5 metres. It was launched on May 25, 2007, and has gradually expanded to include more cities, and in these cities more streets, and also some rural areas.These photographs are currently available for the United States, United Kingdom, Czech Republic, France, Italy, Mexico, the Netherlands, Portugal, Spain, Switzerland, Canada, Japan, Taiwan,Australia, and New Zealand.
When Take a Street shot from googel street view,there is a chance to appear some ones face ,vehicles number plate,(one person in America captured near to a adult porn shop )because of that he lost is repetition .his friends spread that photo globally.there after he files a case against googel,as a result googel agree to there after captured photos will modify as not appearing faces,to aceive that googel develop a software based on image recognition ,it is blending faces and number plates.But totally it is not accurate to 100 %..
On November 21, 2008, Street View was added to the Maps application installed on all of Apple iPhones. On December 10, 2008, Street View was added to the Maps application for S60 3rd Edition. Street View has now also been added to theWindows Mobile and BlackBerry versions of Google Maps. All versions of Google Maps for Android feature Street View, and the digital compass can be used to look around the locations.
Google Street View was first introduced in the United States on May 25, 2007, and until November 26, 2008, featured camera icon markers, each representing at least one major city or area (such as a park), and usually the other nearby cities, towns, suburbs, and parks. Many areas that had coverage were not represented by icons.
§ On May 12, 2008, Google announced that it was testing face-blurring technology on its photos of the busy streets of Manhattan. The technology uses a computer algorithm to search Google's image database for faces and blurs them, according to John Hanke, director of Google Earth and Google Maps.[8]
§ On July 2, 2008, Google Street View was introduced in France and Italy, providing the first service outside the United States. On this day, 19 camera icons were added, mostly showing small towns and areas along the Tour de France route and part of north western Italy
§ On August 4, 2008, Australia and Japan were added to Google Street View. On this day, 28 icons were added, featuring major metropolitan areas of Japan as well as the bulk of Australia. Included in the update were approximately 40 new U.S. hub cities.
§ On December 1, 2008, New Zealand was added to Google Street View. Faces were blurred upon recommendation by the New Zealand Privacy Commission, but vehicle registration plates were not obscured.
§ Two other features included in the June 10, 2008, update were an effective mask of the "Google" car and the application of face-blurring technology on all photos, which effectively lowered the resolution across all photos, even the formerly impressive high resolution images of San Francisco. Also, many nearby metro areas were included, but they did not receive their own camera icons. Google initially used images from spherical video company Immersive Media as well as their own vehicles. Since December 2007, Google has used imagery that belongs exclusively to Google.
§ On November 26, 2008, the Street View button and all the camera icons were deleted. Instead of clicking the "Street View" button, you can now click on the "pegman" button in the left hand corner. If you drag "pegman" over the map and where Street View is available the blue polylines will appear on the map and a small window will show the current Street View. If you drop "pegman" on the map the Street View opens and takes over the whole map window.
§ On April 9, 2009, Street View became available with a full-screen option.
§ On June 5, 2009, Smart Navigation was introduced which allows users to navigate around the panoramas by double-clicking with their cursor on any place or object they want to see
Google has stated that its ultimate goal is to provide street views of the entire world, although the company has not disclosed in advance the exact dates when any particular locations will be added. A list of the places Google Street View vehicles are currently driving is available.
Privacy issues
Privacy advocates have objected to this Google feature, pointing to views found to show men leaving strip clubs, protesters at an abortion clinic, sunbathers in bikinis, cottagers at public parks, people picking up prostitutes and people engaging in activities visible from public property in which they do not wish to be seen publicly. Google maintains that the photos were taken from public property. Before launching the service, Google removed photos of domestic violence shelters, and it allows users to flag inappropriate or sensitive imagery for Google to review and remove. When the service was first launched, the process for requesting that an image be removed was not trivial, but Google has changed its policy to make removal more straightforward. Images of potential break-ins, sunbathers, and individuals entering adult bookstores have, however, remained active and these images have been widely republished.
In Europe, the creation of Google Street View may not be legal in all jurisdictions. Some European countries have laws prohibiting the filming without consent of an individual on public property for the purpose of public display
Google Street view, while angering many privacy advocates, has been known in one instance to help a victim of crime. A Dutch boy happened to find a photo on Street View showing him with two men right before they allegedly mugged him. Authorities were able to use these photos and arrest the assailants Google Street View has exposed crimes such as prostitution, vandalism, and assault.
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here is some snaps taken By Googel street View
some one going to enter into adult book shop.....haaaa
a Theif Climbs.....
Sun Bathing babes,,,,withot b_ _
Unfortunatly srilanka does not have a googel strret view,it s un predictable
what happen in future
will meet in another post
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