Google Streetview successfully invades France and Japan!!!
 

http://img138.imageshack.us/img138/2849/91551931hu7.jpg
*All those blue-highlighted streets have been raped already.

Google maps is probably the best mapping system available online right now. You can seamlessly chart your journey with multiple destinations and pretty accurate distance calculation.

It was a revelation when Google became available with the satellite view feature, which, as helpful as it was, caused controversy.

Last year, Google implemented an even more invasive function called "Street View" . It was pretty sweet. It let you place a figure of a man down to highlighted roads on the map, and it showed you a 360 deg. panorama shot of the very spot. The logic, is of course, you'd quite literally know where you'd be going, and recognize landmarks of places you've never been before. And I thought it was a good idea.

...until today. About a year after it was first added, an enormous amount of streets have been added to the Street View. Especially, the residential streets including most of my friends'. It is helpful in finding your way around, no doubt about that. But I bet the people whose homes now grace the internet feel a bit violated. Thankfully, my street isn't "on the map" for the moment, but it might not be for long.

http://www.theage.com.au/ffximage/20..._470x324,0.jpg
So, if you see one of these "Google Cars", shout obscenities and throw a rock at them, otherwise, they'll swiftly begin an invasion of your neighborhood.

And...
Be afraid. Very afraid.

*Oh, if you think you're safe because you live in Europe, Australia or in Japan, then think again! Google has already set up a beach head in those places.

(be warned, the level of alarmism in this thread is for humorous effect only)

http://googlesightseeing.com/2008/03...ht-in-the-act/
http://googlesightseeing.com/wp-cont...8/02/money.jpg

:P

that image has since been removed from google.....

This is quite concerning.

I just cruised our neighbourhood via Google... and these fuckers have scoped out every school as well.

They have actually driven up and down residential streets and into and out of cul-de-sacs taking photos of peoples front yards, showing cars parked outside and kids playing in the yards.

I think this is way over the line now.

Exactly what is the point of this?

^Because they can? Doesn't seem to be any rational reason. That second picture is taken on a street in the Eastern Suburbs of Sydney. It looks familiar, I may have driven on it a few times, but I've never seen these Google cars.

Then it's already begun in Australia. It only takes one car one pass to take these pictures.

Here is google driving by a shooting.

http://jalopnik.com/392619/google-st...es-by-shooting

^Oh, dear! This Google Street View gets stranger every time I read about it.

Once your house has been photographed, it's kind of fun/creepy to look through your neighborhood and figure out what day and time of year the picture must have been taken based on which cars are where.

http://img213.imageshack.us/img213/6...riomphetc3.jpg
http://img106.imageshack.us/img106/9...yotowermy9.jpg

I like the fact that for France, the little man gets a little bike. ;-)