geo2web.com

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The moment they start letting people put messages in Street View is the moment it becomes worthless. How are we supposed to use this stuff if Google allows their employees to put messages in the pictures? I mean where does this stop? Does Google allow Ford Motor Company or Apple Computer to send their employees out to get their pictures taken with Mustang Convertibles and iPhones because they paid Google? I can only guess that Street View is a joke and those who really want to build a business should use Pictometry instead.

Work for Google, put messages in Street View

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As the Street View car passed Google’s California head offices, the Googleplex, hundreds and hundreds of Google Employees came out to form a huge welcoming committee for the passing camera car.

There’s loads of things to see, as many employees have clearly prepared for the event! For example, here’s a life-size yellow Street View guy:

Elsewhere, in a clear nod to our very own discovery of a fight on Street View, a couple of Googlers are engaged in a slight altercation.

In another self-referential move, a couple of people are taking part in a tiny Tour-de-France!

The in-jokes don’t stop there either - one Googler took the opportunity to make a “Web 2.0? marriage proposal! See his website to find out if she accepted.

There’s tons more silliness all up and down the street, as it seems the entire Googleplex came out for the event - so have a browse and share your best finds in the comments!

Thanks to GmapsMania.

Locations: California / Categories: Street Views

View in Google Earth

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Domain

Australian property website domain.com.au have reacted quickly to the launch of street view in Australia by adding the panoramic imagery to their site functionality. The Google Map showing the location of the property and the street view appear on the property details page.

When you are looking at potential houses on-line it is useful to be able to scope out locations with street view. Not only can you get a quick preview of the property but you can take a virtual stroll around the neighbourhood.

StreetAdvisor

StreetAdvisor has also reacted quickly to the Australian launch of street view. StreetAdvisor is a community sharing website where residents can rate the streets that they live in. The site carries ratings for neighbourly attitudes, noise levels, traffic problems etc.

Now it is also possible to check out the street in Google Maps street view.

Immobilio

French real-estate search engine Immobilio is the first European site to add Google street view. So if you are looking to buy a property in France you can now view prospective properties in Google Maps street view (where available).

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• Australia, Japan get Street View: Amazing — Australia is now smothered in blue Street View lines in Google Maps — including some of the most out-of-the-way places you can imagine:

  View Larger Map

  

  The Australian’s take: “Privacy advocates say Google’s gone too far,” though not, it turns out, Australia’s Office of the Federal Privacy Commissioner, which thinks Google’s approach is fair dinkum enough. Japan too gets some of its main cities covered. Thanks to Claudia Carvalho for the tip.

• Olym-pics not for the Chinese: Google’s recently updated satellite imagery of the brand-new Olympic stadiums in Beijing — which would provide ample opportunity for the Chinese to feel proud — is alas not available to ordinary Chinese, as inside the Great Chinese Firewall Google’s Chinese-language Ditu Maps service does not have a satellite imagery layer. Because, you know, all those domestic terrorists would never dream of using a proxy server to maps.google.com.
• OneGeology outputs to KML: It turns out that OneGeology, previously flagged on Ogle Earth but not tested due to browser limitations, outputs to KML, as Hypocentre points out Now that I’ve had access to IE7 for a bit, I can confirm that the exported view-based network link works great in Google Earth. All Points Blog also lauds the data, but comments that the site’s technical underpinnings is a bit dated. As far as I’m concerned, the KML links for the regional layers serve all my needs — it would be great to offer them as a list of options that don’t depend on a small subset of browsers or the map view — I know where Africa is:-) Oh and a KML layer with the key would make it perfect.

  

• 3DXplorer - new Java-based virtual world: Serendipitously, just a few days after Avi Bar-Zeev clarifies the difference between two different kind of “browser-based” 3D virtual worlds/globes (one kind requires a plugin be installed, the other relies on the browser’s own resources — which is a much harder feat to pull off) an avatar-driven virtual world of the second kind is announced: 3DXplorer. Tantalizingly, it supports COLLADA models of the kind made by SketchUp and found in Google 3D Warehouse. In other words, you can create your own virtual worlds on your own website, populate it with existing 3D content, and let anyone with a free 3DXplorer account visit. That could well be a winning formula, with a free hosting option for low-traffic sites and paid options that are competitive with Second Life, depending on usage patterns. It runs in java 1.6, which alas Apple has been tardy shipping as a default with OS X (it’s still at 1.5). The main constraint, I suspect: It doesn’t look as slick as Second Life.
• Mapufacture + GeoCommons: Geoweb pioneer Mapufacture, with its early support for syndicated georeferenced content via GeoRSS, is being acquired by FortiusOne, which is democratizing access to complex GIS databases via its GeoCommons platform. As Mapufacture’s Mikel Maron, Andrew Turner and FortiusOne’s Sean Gorman explain it, the two services are complementary and hence a perfect fit — Sean Gorman:
  

  The long term vision has been to eventually fuse the personal and dynamic data of the GeoWeb (long tail) [Mapufacture] with the static and statistical data of GIS (short tail) [Geocommons].

  I think it’s wonderful that there is consolidation afoot among the social geoentrepreneurs — there are some very big fish in the geospatial pond.

• Earthmine update: O’Reilly Radar updates us on progress with Earthmine, which is working on an API to integrate its “Street View on steroids” into third party web sites. Don’t know about Earthmine yet? You need to check out this video.
• Landsat to go free: Announced today: 35 years of archived Landsat imagery will be made freely available on the web by the end of 2008. The U.S. Geological Survey will be hosting the data, which is good news — the USGS is an enthusiastic adopter of KML for many of its other projects. Depending on how comprehensively this dataset is integrated with Google Earth et. al., we’ll soon be able to browse the Earth in time as well as in space.

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After a huge roll out of street view in Australia and Japan today Google have also announced street view imagery for more than 30 US cities. The new cities include New Orleans (LA), Baton Rouge (LA), El Paso (TX), Wichita (KS), Savannah (GA), and Colorado Springs (CO).

The Google LatLong Blog also says that “to give you even more of a reason to explore Street View, we’ve hidden a special surprise somewhere in our US imagery so keep your eyes peeled as you take in the views!”

Here are Some Interesting Street Views

Ramsay Street (from the Australian soap Neighbours)
Surfer’s Paradise, Sydney, Australia
The Australian War Memorial, Canberra, Australia
New Orleans French Quarter and St Louis Cathedral
Louisiana State Capitol, Baton Rouge
Garden of the Gods, Colorado Springs

Also Check Out These Street View Galleries

• Streetviewr
• Street View Fun
• Street View Gallery
• Street Viewer Gallery

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Google Maps Street View in France (and a tiny bit of Italy) has certainly brightened up my week. However the rest of Europe may have to wait some time for Street View to appear. Well they will if all the Street View car drivers are as keen to win a Darwin Award as the driver who took this image:

Now what possible reason could anyone have to close a mountain road at 2000 metres? I know - let’s drive on and see:

Ah avalanches! That looks fun let’s drive on.

What happened to the road?

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Posted by Mike Pegg, Product Marketing Manager

We’re pretty excited about all of these birthdays that have been happening lately. The Google Outreach program just celebrated its first birthday, and Google Maps Street View is happy to also be going one year strong.

We’re also pleased as punch to wish our pride and joy for geoweb developers everywhere, the Google Maps API, a happy third birthday. It was June 29th, 2005, but it seems like only yesterday that we were marvelling at what context the Gmaps Pedometer was giving us for our running routes or walk to work. Who can forget how many great real estate auctions we were finding with 2RealEstateAuctions? Since then the API has been helping businesses like Ace Hardware map its store locations, and Trulia plot houses for sale. Thanks, Google Maps API, for making all of these great mashups and tools possible! 

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US National Tennis Court Mashup:

Want a great way to find a tennis court anywhere in the US? TennisMaps.com comes to life with a mashup that actually took me a bit off guard when I went to review it. I wasn’t expecting the overwhelming coverage of courts per city, the amount of detail for each court or the services you can interact with for each court. You’ve got driving directions, ratings, court details and info about nearby toilets, restaurants and hotels. Quick options to link-to or print are also built in. My only suggestion is to create a way to quickly go back to the US view with all ball markers showing.. Even if you’re not a tennis buff, take a peek at this one, it’s pretty well done.

MyTopo: Browse US/Canada Topo Maps!:

Topographic (topo) maps are maps that show detail about natural and man-made features in an area. A hill or mountain is represented by contour lines drawn out to show terrain. Structures are labeled or their shapes are drawn out. In addition to practical planning uses, topo maps are pretty fun and almost geo-romantic to explore. MyTopo.com lets you browse these topo maps for anywhere in the US and Canada..

• California Green Buildings - created by The State of California Department of General Services. Andrew Turner has also re-mashed this and created a KML file you can grab. Check out more details about his project here.. [Thanks Andres!]
• Mapping the Newsweek Top 1300+ US High Schools for 2008

Street View Mania on Real Estate Mashups!

RealEstate.com, Trulia, PropertyMaps and Fibzber are among the first housing mashups to integrate Google Maps Street View!

4 Cool boundary mapping examples:

• WalkScore polyline mouse-over - Roll your mouse over this heatmap to see polylines instantly outline the boundary!
• Zillow Neighborhood Boundary Shapefiles - Zip files for each state are free for the downloading!
• Estately True Area Search - Enter your zip code then map from 1/2 to 10 miles from that zip code in your search.
• PropertyMaps.com has added parcel boundary mapping

3 New Texas Real Estate Mashups:

• POATRI Property Tract Map system - Covers thousands of acres of survey maps in West Texas. Mashup built using the WexZone Mapper
• InspiredAustin.com & DallasTexasRealEstate.com

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Google Map’s Street View turns one today and in celebration Google have released street view for an amazing 37 new cities. The new cities include:

* MA: Springfield
* NY: Buffalo, Rochester, Syracuse
* NJ: Newark
* VA: Virginia Beach
* NC: Charlotte, Winston-Salem
* SC: Columbia, Greenville
* GA: Atlanta
* FL: Boca Raton, Cape Coral, Ft. Lauderdale, Jacksonville, Sarasota, West Palm Beach
* AL: Huntsville
* MS: Jackson
* TN: Knoxville
* KY: Lexington, Louisville
* OH: Cincinnati, Columbus, Dayton, Toledo
* MI: Ann Arbor
* MO: St. Louis
* KS: Topeka
* NE: Lincoln
* OK: Oklahoma City, Tulsa
* NV: Reno
* CA: Bakersfield, Fresno, Sacramento, Stockton

Here is an example of street view - I think this view might be in Reno:

Google have also updated imagery in many of the cities previously covered. This means that many of the images in the sites that are compiling street view galleries will have changed.

Check Out These Street View Galleries

• Streetviewr
• Street View Fun
• Street View Gallery
• Street Viewer Gallery

Via: Google LatLong: Street View turns 1, keeps on growing

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Posted by Jiajun Zhu, Software Engineer

To celebrate Street View’s one year birthday, I am very happy to announce we are bringing Street View to 37 (you heard me - 37!) new areas and we have expanded coverage in 15 of our existing areas. All in all, this effectively doubles our coverage. The new cities include:

• MA: Springfield
• NY: Buffalo, Rochester, Syracuse
• NJ: Newark
• VA: Virginia Beach
• NC: Charlotte, Winston-Salem
• SC: Columbia, Greenville
• GA: Atlanta
• FL: Boca Raton, Cape Coral, Ft. Lauderdale, Jacksonville, Sarasota, West Palm Beach
• AL: Huntsville
• MS: Jackson
• TN: Knoxville
• KY: Lexington, Louisville
• OH: Cincinnati, Columbus, Dayton, Toledo
• MI: Ann Arbor
• MO: St. Louis
• KS: Topeka
• NE: Lincoln
• OK: Oklahoma City, Tulsa
• NV: Reno
• CA: Bakersfield, Fresno, Sacramento, Stockton

Now you can stroll under the iconic Reno Arch:

Along with showing you some great metropolitan areas, I’m especially excited that we’re also bringing you 10 new parks and recreational areas:

• Everglades National Park (Florida)
• Florida Keys
• Grand Teton National Park (Wyoming)
• Yellowstone National Park (Wyoming/Montana)
• Rocky Mountain National Park (Colorado)
• Joshua Tree National Park (California)
• Death Valley National Park (California)
• Lassen Volcanic National Park (California)
• Sequoia National Park (California)
• Lake Tahoe (California/Nevada)

Now you can see the boiling springs in Yellowstone National Park from a very safe distance:

And last but not least, Street View coverage has expanded in 15 of our current areas: Boise, Boston, Kansas City, Miami, Nashville, New York City, Orlando, Philadelphia, Phoenix, Portland, Richmond, San Diego, San Francisco, Tampa, and Tucson.

We’ve also been spending the past year working very hard to improve Street View image quality. In this push, we removed some of our oldest images, so say goodbye to odd coloring and funky geometric artifacts. The new images have better color and more consistent lighting.

Let’s revisit San Francisco City Hall:

And the skyscrapers of Chicago:

Now you can look up in all our images. But what goes up must come down, so with this release you can also look down as well. The roof of our car and the ‘black hole’ really aren’t all that interesting — now when you pan down the car is magically gone and you can see straight to the ground in most of our images!

And finally, in the spirit of getting better with age, the face blurring technology we began testing in Manhattan has been deployed for all of our imagery. Remember that all these new Street View images are simultaneously available in Google Earth and through Google Maps API.

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Embed a panoramic Google Maps Street View! - Hot on the heels of a 6 city Google Maps Street View update comes the launch of “embeddable panoramas”. Now you can embed a panoramic image from street view in the same way you can embed a Google Map! Here’s a sample view from just [...]

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