Google Maps--seeing things on the street level

1 Comments Published by Segen on Saturday, May 17 at 2:24 AM.

Google is at it again—shaping the world as usual. Google-Maps has a new feature called “Street View”, where the computer user can see a 360 degree view of the street in selected areas. (check out the Google instructions on youtube and try taking a look at San Francisco, CA)

This feature would allow people who cannot travel to certain destinations to finally get a glimpse of what places actually look like. I thought these images would be great to show to my disabled mother, as she cannot travel and has always dreamed of going to foreign destinations—especially to Paris, France.

But, unfortunately, “Street View” might not be available in Europe like it is in the United States. European Union officials are saying that the street view images captured by Google might violate privacy laws. Europeans are afraid of being captured on camera while doing certain acts—like entering an adult store or urinating in public—and then being broadcast to the entire world through the Google-Maps website. Google says that the photographs of the streets are no different than artists snapping pictures on busy streets—why the different treatment for Google? To quell these fears, Google has adopted a face-smudging technique so that individuals cannot be identified in its photos.

I hope Europe ultimately allows “Street View” images of all its cities—especially of it’s most renowned and gorgeous ones. Already seeing what “Street View” can do for San Francisco gets me excited about other places I can virtually “visit”.

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