Google Maps Street View - Do They Have Your Photo?

[MineralMan]

They have mine. Or at least my car's. A few months ago, I was driving near my home and stopped at an intersection, just as a Google Street View car was driving by. I've been looking at that intersection on street view ever since, from time to time. So, today, this showed up, and there I am, stopped at that intersection. Anyone else in a random Street View image? Invasion of privacy? Or just fun?

[X_Digger]

1. Google maps is now blurring tags and faces

They recently updated our street's view, and I can see and read the bumper stickers on my truck, but not the tag.

[MineralMan]

2. That's probably a good thing, although I don't really care.

I just think it's fun to have seen the Street View car and then to find the image. I gave up Internet anonymity a long time ago as a wasted effort.

[JaneyVee]

3. YES, I zoomed to my block on street view and there I am riding my bicycle from behind.

It was a really strange feeling when I first realized.

BTW, lovely neighborhood you live in.

[MineralMan]

5. Cool! I'm amazed that there's anyone on DU who has been

snapped by a Google Street View camera. The probabilities would seem to be very low. Maybe not. We'll see if anyone else says they're in a Street View picture.

[JaneyVee]

10. I can't believe out of all the places I could have been at that moment

There I was, especially since I work constantly. I zoomed to my block on street view for fun, strolled down the block and there I was. You can actually get a full view of me if you turn the camera around. The cameras have me from behind, from the side, and from the front. Back, right side, front. Face blurred, everything else not blurred. It was creepy at first but now I find it kinda cool. I remember seeing a weird car that day with cameras on it but I just thought it was someone filming a movie or documentary, or film student. It's pretty common.

[Fantastic Anarchist]

4. Hi You!

As to your question, I'm on the fence about this.

Tough call.

[MineralMan]

6. Well, they're apparently blurring license plates and faces.

Personally, I don't care. I'm out there, and so is my car. It doesn't really matter to me.

[RKP5637]

7. I see you, you should have shaved for that photo! LOL n/t

[MineralMan]

11. Never! I haven't shaved since 1969.

My poor wife would probably call the cops if I did.

[randome]

8. Hey. Mine still shows the recycling bin in front.

Could have sworn I brought that in last week.
[hr][font color="blue"][center]I'm always right. When I'm wrong I admit it.
So then I'm right about being wrong.[/center][/font][hr]

[MineralMan]

17. So, you're that one who never brings in the bin.

Lowering property values and that stuff...

[oldhippie]

9. On first reflection, I'd call it fun ......

What are the odds? You (or at least your car) are captured for posterity.

I don't see where anyone would have any expectation of privacy while walking or driving in public. Or even in your own yard if seen from a public street. I'm sure the issue has come up in some court somewhere. I never cared enough to look. No google car has ever been down my street.

On edit: Well I take that back. I just checked and they have, in fact, been down my street. And fairly recently, as my garage door is open and I can see things inside. From the configuration I can see the photo was taken within the last two months or so. I wish my garage door was closed. My usually neat garage was kinda messy.

[MineralMan]

12. Probably in a few months, there will be a different photo at that

intersection. That's OK. I made a screen shot.

[MineralMan]

20. They've been just about everywhere.

I was talking a couple of years ago to my mother, and she was waxing nostalgic about her childhood home in Arizona's copper mining district. So, I got my notebook computer out, asked for the address, and found it for her. Switched to Street View and gave her a tour of the old place from all angles. I captured one really good photo and printed it out for her. It's on her refrigerator door now.

It was fun, I walked her down her street and looked at all the houses, and she told me who lived in them and some story about them. She's 89 now, and I think she really enjoyed her virtual home town visit a lot. Not much had changed in that sleepy mining town, actually, except the colors the houses were painted.

[oldhippie]

31. Was it near Bisbee, per chance ......

I was stationed at Fort Huachuca in 1970-71 and I found the old town fascinating. Spent some time at the Copper Queen on Sundays.

[LizW]

37. I looked at the valley where I grew up

It was depressing. Apparently the area has fallen on hard times. Houses that were full of families and kids when I was growing up are dilapidated and overgrown. Sad.

[Coyotl]

13. What a useful thing this is, as is the Panoramio layer in Google Earth.

I've used street view many times to recon a place before going there. It saves a lot of time and averts getting lost, unnecessary trips, etc. Also, it is really great to be able to see more of the world in Google Earth's Panoramio layer. I use it for archaeology research all the time.

http://www.panoramio.com/

[MineralMan]

16. I agree. I use it all the time if I have to go somewhere.

I can see the place I'm going and its surroundings. Combined with Google mapping, it always gets me there with the least amount of effort. I've also used it to check out the businesses of prospective web content clients, just to get a feel for what their place of business looks like, and what's nearby.

[jberryhill]

40. It's a great travel tool

Staying at a hotel in a strange city and want to get a look at the neighborhood around that walk to the restaurant a couple blocks away? Boom.

[geomon666]

14. They have my dad walking his dog (who has since passed away)

He had no idea they drove right by him until his younger son found it out of sheer curiosity.

[MineralMan]

15. Nice! I hope you printed it out.

[hobbit709]

18. The one of my house is at least 3 years old.

[MineralMan]

22. Mine, too. It's a different color now.

I haven't checked recently, though. I'll go do that.

[Fortinbras Armstrong]

44. The one of my house was obviously taken earlier this year

[msanthrope]

19. Me and my dog in Fairmount Park. Link sent to me by a childhood friend,

half a world away.


Ah....the Internet.

[MineralMan]

23. Cool! More people than I thought have been captured.

I'm not interested in houses. They have almost all of those, but the capture of people at a moment in time is pretty amazing.

[Codeine]

42. Fairmount Park in Philly or in Riverside? nt

[msanthrope]

45. Philly. nt

[Nye Bevan]

21. Public street = not an invasion of privacy (nt)

[MineralMan]

24. That's true. Google has started blurring stuff, though,

to prevent identification of people. That was probably a good move for them, although it wouldn't matter to me.

[MineralMan]

25. I just realized that this was taken last fall, so it

has been a year. Wow! The leaves are turning again now, and soon I'll be raking them again and tuning up the snowblower. Damn!

[ScreamingMeemie]

26. My uncle is in a Street View, walking his dog

[MineralMan]

27. Looks like rain is coming.

Thanks!

[Silver Swan]

28. When they first began street view in this area,

Our car could be seen in the parking lot of a nearby bar. We did visit that bar frequently, but we thought it was funny, not an invasion of privacy.

That picture has since been replaced.

[MineralMan]

29. Cool. I hope you captured the image and saved it.

[ThoughtCriminal]

30. I saw one last year

but I was too far away to appear in the image.

[cpwm17]

32. My mother is by my parents' house taking out the trash

in street view

[LizW]

33. They have never covered my neighborhood

It's strange, all around here, Google has street-mapped every little trail, back road and alleyway, rural and urban, but my neighborhood is not mapped at all. Not one single street. Hmm.

[MineralMan]

34. That's kinda weird. I wonder if there's a way to let Google know.

[bettyellen]

35. My late cat Caindy (named after two DUers) can be seen in my apartment window. She is

looking North, with a wistful expression.

[MineralMan]

36. Cool. I hope you have the image.

Our kitties are special.

[bettyellen]

39. I just looked and it is gone. I have to see if I saved it. It was a nice surprise at the time.

The cat was named for our Andy Stephenson, who had been out here for surgery when I found her on Petfinder, and another DUer, Cindy who flew her up from Tennessee. Caindy, with a southern accent. She was awesome.

[sammytko]

38. They have my across the street neighbor - he is sitting in his car about to drive off

At least it has been updated but still about two years old. House still has the same windows and there is a campaign sign in my yard from my friend that unfortunately was booted out.

[Shankapotomus]

41. I spotted a Google car just yesterday

Passed by the corner closest to my sister's house. We were standing out front so it may have gotten a distant shot of us. My old car is presently already on a Google maps street view.

[Codeine]

43. What a beautiful little neighborhood. nt

[MineralMan]

46. Thanks. That's a few blocks from my house, but

that entire part of Saint Paul, MN was built out in the 1950s. Very post-war rambler country, all with full basements and good quality construction. My house reminds me of the one my parents had in the 50s and 60s. Pretty much the same layout, too, with living room and eat-in kitchen on one end and a hallway leading to three bedrooms and one bath on the other. Ours has one of the bedrooms converted to a dining room with a pocket door to the kitchen. Small but nice. The basement is partially finished, and has a big family room, a bedroom, and my office. We don't use much of it except my office. There's also a utility room down there with laundry stuff, storage and the furnace.

It's pretty typical of homes in the neighborhood. I think one builder built most of them.