Items tagged with Street View
Disney's theme parks are wonderful places to visit, and that it true whether you are a young child who is eager to meet characters like Mickey Mouse, or an adult who just wants to escape the hustle and bustle of everyday life for a bit. Taking a vacation to one of the parks is also an expensive endeavor. While it is not the same thing, you can now take a stroll through Disneyland and Disney's other theme parks through Google Maps using its Street View technology. Zooming in with Google Maps and looking at 360-degree photos is obviously a very different experience than actually visiting a theme park, like California Adventure that sits next to Disneyland or the Epcot at Disneyworld. But in lieu...
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Google Maps is making it easier than ever to get you to your destination. The Google Maps Interface has added street view images to the directions. The directions screen on Google Maps will now show thumbnails from “Street View”. If the user taps on the image, they will get a 360° view and Street View will direct users to the location of the turn. The thumbnail will also be correctly oriented in the direction the user is going and will therefore point users in the right direction. Google has also added a few skin-deep alterations to the interface. Some screens will now include a bottom bar with useful contextual information, such as an icon for route information. The bar largely replaces the...
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Whether it's because you're afraid of heights or simply don't want to tempt the Grim Reaper, maybe rock climbing isn't your thing. That's okay, you don't have to scale a massive wall of rock to enjoy the visuals -- Google and its Street View technology have come to the rescue once again. This time, it's the world's most famous rock wall that's been added to Google's Street View collection, Yosemite's El Capitan. It's the first-ever vertical Street View collection, and a most appropriate one at that. This sucker scales 3,000 feet high and is a challenge on its on. When you add a camera into the mix with snapshots from various angles, it takes even more concentration, which makes the accomplishment...
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There's a vast world out in the ocean. As Google points out, the ocean covers more than 70 percent of the Earth's surface, much of it unchartered with ecosystems that have yet to be discovered. What we have been able to see, however, is pretty magnificent, and if you're not in a position to don a scuba suit and swim with the fishes, you can stay dry by exploring new Street View imagery of more than 40 locations in and around the vast ocean. Google added the locations in time for World Oceans Day on June 8, an annual celebration of the world's oceans and marine life. There's a lot of nice imagery to sift through, perfect for a Friday afternoon as you sit stuck in a cubicle waiting for the end...
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Listen up, land lubbers, you don't need to be a swashbuckling pirate to enjoy the high seas, and you certainly shouldn't let a potentially queasy stomach stop you from enjoying the ocean. In this day and age of the Internet, you can set sail without setting foot on a ship thanks to a joint collaboration between Royal Caribbean International and Google, the latter of which is providing its Street View technology to the cruise line. As such, Royal Caribbean International becomes the first cruise line to launch a Google Maps Business View using Google's Street View technology. While anyone can use it, the primary intent is to offer potential customers a fun and interactive way to plan their vacations....
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The long-running saga of Google’s Street View legal woes ended a chapter yesterday when the U.S. Supreme Court rejected its appeal of Google v. Joffe. The case is the latest in which Google takes heat for collecting data from unencrypted Wi-Fi networks while its Street View cars photographed cities for Google Maps. The rejection by the Court upholds the December, 2013 ruling of the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals that Google’s data collection violated the Wiretap Act. Google's backpack version of its Street View cam for off-road mapping. Image credit: Flickr user Google collected reams of personal data about users, including email addresses and passwords, though it claims not to have...
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If you've never been to Colorado and you have an opportunity to visit, you should do so -- it's a gorgeous state. Unfortunately, little things like time, money, and work have a tendency to interfere with travel plans, but thanks to Google, you can still explore places you might not otherwise be able to using just your Internet browser. The latest locale waiting for you to jump into Street View mode is the Colorado River, which flows through parts of Colorado and half a dozen other states in the U.S. "For 6 million years, the Colorado River has flowed through the heart of the desert southwest, its waters slowly carving out a canyon so vast it can be seen from space—yet so remote it didn’t...
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Unless you happen to live in a pineapple under the sea, you're probably not afforded many opportunities to visit the watery underworld and take in all the wonderful sights. Lucky for us landlubbers, the Catlin Seaview Survey has made it their mission to create a baseline record of the world' coral reefs in high-resolution 360-degree panoramic vision. Even better, they've partnered with Google to provide underwater images for Google Street View. The Catlin Seaview Survey and Google just added a bunch of new images, giving curious undersea peepers like us more ocean to explore, including Isla Mujeres and Cancun. Things you may bump into during your underwater expedition include a whale shark and...
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It's tough to even remember how we operated in a world without Google Maps, as the service has rapidly evolved into a must-have tool in just a few short years since its launch. One of the ways it has expanded is by enabling the world to populate it with data, and there's probably no better case to be made for crowdsourcing than mapping. Now, the company is allowing folks around the globe to create their own Street View. If you're unfamiliar, Street View is a street-level view of popular places on Google Maps, where a camera recorded an image at a given point and allows you to view what that point looks like online. It's almost like being there, through your laptop display. Google has spent years...
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Depending on where you live, you may not get too see much wildlife on your way to work, especially if you live in or around a big city. What's an animal lover stuck in the urban jungle to do? Well, you can turn to Google Maps and use Street View, which now includes tons of imagery of our furry (and sometimes not so furry) friends from some of the most famous zoos and animal parks from around the world. "Lions and tigers may be standard attractions, but starting today, you can also use Street View to see the panda bears noshing on bamboo and tumbling around the Chengdu Research Base of Giant Panda Breeding in China," Google stated in a blog post. "More than 30 percent of this endangered species...
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When it comes to Street View, Google has created something special. The company has provided ground-level imagery of highways and byways across a huge portion of the motorized world, enabling anyone with a Web browser and an Internet connection to see what the locals see while driving. It's an impressive feat, and a daunting task to map out. But in some areas, Google has longed to provide Street View imagery in places where motorcars aren't allowed. For those scenarios, it has used a backpack-type apparatus that straps onto a human test subject. At the top is an array of cameras and a logging device, which takes imagery as the person walks, stiches it all together, and readies it for publishing....
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Google this week added more than 1,000 locations (1,001 to be precise) around the world to Google Maps, with destinations ranging from sports stadiums to historical landmarks and everything in between. Each new locale was also the beneficiary of Google's Street View photos, allowing you to zoom in and plot out your next adventure or simply explore the area(s) from the comfort of your home. Whether this update was planned all along or falls into the "tit-for-tat" category, Google's expansion follows a massive update by Microsoft to Bing Maps, in which 270 terabytes (the equivalent of 100,000 DVDs) of "Bird's Eye" imagery was added. Bird's Eye imagery is captured at a 45-degree angle from low-flying...
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You may have not been there, but The Galapagos Islands are known around the world as being some of the most unique, precious islands on the planet. From a biological standpoint, you'll find ecosystems here that you won't find anywhere else, and in fact, it's becoming a bit more difficult for average folks to visit because of efforts that are ongoing to protect those very ecosystems. The Ecuadorean Government, local conservation groups and scientists are working to protect the Galapagos from threats posed by invasive species, climate change and other human impacts. So, what to do? Get Google out there to capture everything right now, so that images can be shared with the world at large. Google...
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Being an investigative journalist isn't always easy. So, when a semi-illicit snapshot of a steamy dressing room scene in a French ski shop started making its way through cyberspace, we knew he had to, uh, take a closer look. For journalism, of course. And what exactly did we find upon a closer examination? We found that this particular ski shop has a sense of humor. Not only was the dressing room scene staged, but there are several funny scenes to be found as you virtually browse the store through Google Maps. Here's a look at the pic that grabbed our attention. We have no idea how far the naughty dressing room inhabitants went to make this scene look authenticate, but we do know they weren't...
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Google's team of photography ninjas have been working overtime to add even more locales to the search giant's Street View technology in Google Maps. The result of all that hard work? Google Maps is now more robust and fleshed out than ever before, having today rolled out an update that effectively doubled the number of special photo collections and added 250,000 miles of road around the world. It's the biggest update to Google Maps since it was introduced seven years ago. Street View coverage as been increased in the U.S. and a number of places abroad, including Macau, Singapore, Sweden, Thailand, Italy, Great Britain, Denmark, Norway, and Canada. Photo collections are being added to South Africa,...
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Google has just announced a brand new initiative that sounds mighty ambitious: heading to the Amazon. The service already allows folks to hike around Stonehenge or even ski down Whistler’s slopes, all without leaving home. Soon, users will be able to float down the Amazon and Rio Negro Rivers of northwest Brazil and experience some of the most remote and biodiverse areas in the world. According to Google, members of their Brazil and U.S. Street View and Google Earth Outreach teams are currently in the Amazon rainforest using our Street View technology to capture images of the river, surrounding forests and adjacent river communities. In partnership with the Amazonas Sustainable Foundation...
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Recently, Google's Street View expanded to all seven continents. Where could it possibly go next? To places that aren't accessible via car. While Street View has done a tremendous job of providing an up-close view of locations by sending camera-equipped cars to record images, the one thing that cannot be recorded by car is anything off of the street. You may think that's not too big of a deal, but there are actually quite a few monuments and addresses that could benefit from having Street View, but can't because of a lack of road leading there. Look at Stonehenge in England. To get a Street View look, you'd have to off road into the monument. Not going to happen. But now, Google is sending out...
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It's not often that lawsuits end in $1 payouts, but that's what has happened with Google and a Pennsylvania couple. Back in 2008, Aaron and Christine Boring sued Google because a Street View car, which drives around takes 360-degree shots of street surroundings in order to show on Google Maps, invaded their privacy. According to the couple, the car didn't pay attention to a "Private Road; No Trespassing" sign, and they weren't too pleased. After fighting back and forth for two years now, Google finally agreed to pay up. But the settlement is just $1! The couple said that they're glad to have this over with, and would've accepted a formal apology from the start. So why waste money on lawyers when...
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Particularly over the past few months, Google has run into a few issues over privacy. The main issue that got them into hot water was a realization that their Street View cars had inadvertently collected Wi-Fi data while cruising, picking up some rather private information along the way. Google has become a large enough company now that people can reasonably question whether or not they should be collecting all of this private/location data, and Google's clearly aware of that. In an effort to control the damage and the fallout, and to regain the trust of anyone who had considered giving up on their services due to this event, Google has announced a few key changes internally as well as providing...
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Oh boy, this won't go over well. Just as the weekend was getting set to kick into high gear, Google dropped one more bombshell for the news crowd to hop on. The company, which has seen lots of criticism lately over botched privacy efforts (most recently involving Google Buzz's auto-add friend feature), is about to be blasted once more after admitting that they actually cataloged Wi-Fi data while collecting information via Google Street View cars. All of this started nine days ago, when the data protection authority (DPA) in Hamburg, Germany asked to audit the Wi-Fi data that the company's Street View vehicles were collecting; Street View is an awesome feature of Google Maps where you can actually...
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Google's Street View product has gain notoriety worldwide, but not always for good reasons. People at some locations have even chased the Street View car out of the area. But in Japan, due to privacy reasons (and short fences), critics have risen to the fore. Yes, Google was using cameras which were just a tad bit too tall for Japanese fences, which meant they looked into quite a few backyards. So Google has agreed to lower the cameras, and reshoot, which will cost a pretty penny, as Google has already shot in Sapporo, Hakodate, Sendai, Chiba, Saitama, Tokyo, Yokohama, Kobe, Osaka, Kyoto, and Nara. Street View has produced lawsuits, protests, requests for removal and blurring. Still, for Street...
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Google’s Street View feature hasn’t always received the most positive reception. For instance, we’ve heard plenty of stories of people asking Google to remove images of their homes from the feature because of privacy concerns. This is a new one, however: Angry residents in Buckinghamshire village have chased a Google Street View car out of the area. The car was taking photos of Broughton in Buckinghamshire for the Street View service when Paul Jacobs, a local resident, spotted it. He asked the car not to enter the village. Apparently, the driver of the car wasn’t deterred, because Jacobs later felt the need to rouse his neighbors. Together, the group surrounded the vehicle until the driver performed...
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