Monday, April 29, 2013

How did they take the images in Google Street View?

Q. It has always fascinated me how they take the images on Google Street View. So how do they?

I doubt it'd be from the sky because it'd only give a birds-eye view of the location and it wouldn't be cameras otherwise i'd be seeing camera all in my street.

A. They pay people who are willing to work for Googlemaps as freelance photographers and researchers. These people travel the country looking for relatively unknown and off the map small businesses, taking pictures, getting information about it, and sending it off to Google.

As far as the 360 imaging pictures that they provide from the street level of residential housing, most of those are taken by Google vehicles that travel the streets with a "bubble" camera (looks like a security camera) on the top of them that take 360 degrees of pictures and splice them together in a large panoramic. Occasionally if you scroll all the way down in the pictures you can see the edge of the top of the vehicles

What ended up happening in the google Street View lawsuit brought on by Aaron and Christine Boring?
Q. In April a western Pennsylvania couple sued Google Inc. over images of their property being shown on Google Street View. I've been following this story and haven't seen any news updates recently since the end of August. Is the case still ongoing?

A. It seems that Google is not afraid to tell the truth about technology. It seems that we have finally and unequivocally lost our privacy.

Arguing that technology has ensured that âcomplete privacy does not exist,â Google contends that a Pennsylvania family has no legal grounds to sue the search giant for publishing photos of their home on its popular âStreet Viewâ mapping feature. Responding to an invasion of privacy lawsuit filed by Aaron and Christine Boring, Google has countered that the couple âlive in a residential community in the twenty-first-century United States, where every step upon private property is not deemed by law to be an actionable trespass.â In a motion to dismiss the Boringsâs federal complaint, Googleâs six-lawyer team asserts that, âTodayâs satellite-image technology means that even in todayâs desert, complete privacy does not exist. In any event, Plaintiffs live far from the desert and are far from hermits.â An excerpt from Googleâs U.S. District Court motion can be found below. The company asserts that the images of the Boringsâs Pittsburgh-area residence were âunremarkable photos of the exterior of their home,â and were taken during a âbrief entry upon their driveway.â In their lawsuit, the Borings charged that a Google vehicleâoutfitted with a panoramic camera on its roofâdrove down a private road to take images of their Oakridge Lane home. In its dismissal motion, Google noted that it intends to prove that there was âno clearly marked âPrivate Roadâ sign at the beginningâ of the Boringsâs street.

When I was on my way home today, atleast two google street view cars drove past. How long until they go online?
Q. Yeah, I was walking home and two Google Street View Cars drove past, I was wondering how long it'll be until I can look on street view and see myself on there.

A. What area do you live in?

If you live in the United States, it should be on the Internet within six months. If you live in another country, it could take a few years.




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