Today, Google rolled out its controversial Street View to Scottsdale and Phoenix. Street View allows Google Map users the ability to see select city streets right down on the street level. It’s amazing to see/use as seen here:
To enable street view, you go to Google Maps, and then select the Street View choice (circled in red here). Not all streets in Scottsdale and Phoenix offer street view, but you can tell which do, because those streets are highlight by a blue border.
The shot above is looking West bound on Indian School Rd at the corner of Scottsdale Rd. You can see Starbucks there on the SW corner. Many times, the images wash out as you see here, and the frame stitching is apparent in nearly every view, but it’s still an amazing application of technology. I can see how this would be particularly handy when you are planning to visit some place new. You Google the location in Street View, and now you’ll know what the building looks like you are about to visit. For example, here’s the store front to the S R Brennen Gallery (my favorite art gallery) in old town Scottsdale:
Google seems to have prioritized commercial and shopping districts with the initial roll out of Street View. However, in downtown Phoenix, neighborhoods like the historic Coronado district are fully represented.
The controversy of Street View stems from the fact that some of the images captured and stitched together include people going about their daily lives. Zoomed in the people are potentially recognizable, but may not have wished themselves to be visible. I can imagine that if I were sunbathing in my own pool (the last time I did that, was over 20 years ago), I wouldn’t want the world seeing it on Google.
Still, for the way I envision myself using the tool, I think it’s great. As long as Google has a way of someone requesting a “compromising” image be removed, then I think they’ve really got a useful tool that should be able to have true staying power.
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