Google Maps and Street View

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Permalink Reply by Ashlee B. on June 30, 2008 at 1:36pm

You know what, i agree. I decided to google map my house, luckily the picture is from when it was for sale. But i feel sorry for the neighbors. The view of there house is up close and personal.

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Permalink Reply by Spencer Jones on June 30, 2008 at 3:37pm

I'm no professional cat-burglar, but street-view seems nearly useless in that capacity. The most relevant information is simply not there: locks? dogs? alarms? Where do the utilities connect? Resident profiles and their work/sleep/away patterns? Google street view reveals none of that information. I feel perfectly safe.

I don't spend much time worrying about this stuff. But whatever threat there may be - it ain't coming from google maps.

Our streets are public property. I don't want private streets.

Beyond all that, I agree that seeing my physical home photo'd by my favorite web reference tool is sorta creepy. In a good way though.

Is it just a failure of my imagination? How could street view be a bad thing?

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Permalink Reply by Ben and Peyton on July 1, 2008 at 12:02pm

Street view may not be a bad thing. Just trying to define my reservations about it. Relevant information may be in the eye of the bad guy...such things as points of egress (doors, windows, garages) as well as what's not there (like what areas you can't see from the street).

I wouldn't like private streets either. I guess I feel like there would be a chance that the neighborhood watch (there are alot of retirees in my neighborhood) or the local cops would catch the activity if someone was casing the place.

Really, it comes down to 2 issues:

1) Does a person have ownership of a view of property. I know folks cannot use your personal image in some cases without your consent. Does this or should this apply to your home?

2) My personal sense of security has value, even if it is a paper tiger. I want to feel comfortable and secure as possible in my place. This rattles me for some reason.

Did you read this and check your place? How bout the place of a friend? What about an ex or a boss?...the slope can be slippery....

hmmm....

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Permalink Reply by Spencer Jones on July 1, 2008 at 5:12pm

LOL I agree with you that there's a pretty big creep factor. I use google for years and then bam, here they are all up in my stuff - takin' jpgs! You are not wrong at all.

Access versus Privacy is a classic social problem.

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Permalink Reply by Ashlee B. on July 1, 2008 at 11:34am

Actually i find the view quite entertaining.....

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Permalink Reply by BobbyKearan on July 8, 2008 at 9:25am

You can get all the information that Google Street View provides by driving past the location.
Now, I may have a better reason for complaining - the pic of my house has my sheets hanging on my clothes line outside.
Of course, the pictures are already outdated - I have a dryer now and one of the trees the line was tied to has been cut down, I have a new car and the one in the driveway isn't it.
I noticed that on the corner of Amite and Congress, they took a pic with some of my work-friends sitting outside - and then noticed all the faces were blurred, car tags were blurred - anything offering detail or info that may be used for nefarious purposes is blurred out.
You can't really "case the joint" with Google... you can't tell I have motion security lights or PC video monitoring. About the only thing you can really tell is that my car-pad is cluttered and I own a set of lime-green sheets. (well, used to... upgraded the bed and the sheets don't fit.)
I have been able to show a co-worker what I was working on in my yard and the lot beside it, so its been useful.

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Permalink Reply by JHenry Larose on July 18, 2008 at 4:45pm

My question is: whom did they hire to ride down the street(s) of this entire country, it seems, and photograph all of this? What an undertaking. Does anyone know who / when / how this was accomplished?
As far as privacy goes, we can only achieve such in northern South Dakota, and not during BikeWeek either!
Worried about an intrusion? Always keep motion lights in key places, low wattage lights at entrances on 24/7 (they last for YEARS if you leave 'em on!) And a sign on the fence: "my dog can cross the yard in 2.3 seconds, can YOU?"

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Permalink Reply by Shannon on September 2, 2008 at 4:06pm

I saw a picture of the car that rides around doing this... It has a long pole oddly attached to it's roof, and I assume some sort of rotating camera at the top of this pole.

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Permalink Reply by Shannon on September 2, 2008 at 4:04pm

I found the street view quite helpful in my search for a new apartment. I'm not from Jackson and am not familiar with the area. When google mapping the address of an apartment for rent on craigslist, the street view helped me see if the area looked sketchy or not. Sort of help rule out options without wasting the time to drive and look at it in person.

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