Google Earth (Street View) = Paparazzi
November 11th, 2009 by Rodney LeeFrom yesterday's Honolulu Advertiser:
Oahu, Maui now on Google Street View
Advertiser Staff
You can't see the Russian Fort on Kaua'i from here — yet.
But Web surfers can now see the surf at Sandy's, the royal palms at 'Iolani Palace and, most likely, their own house on the Next Cool Thing on the Internet, Google Street View.
Google yesterday announced that O'ahu and Maui are the latest venues covered by Street View, which allows Web users to go from a satellite view of a spot on Earth to see what it looks like from ground level.
Hawai'i is the 50th state to get the Google Street View treatment, according to the official Google blog (http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2009/11/fifty-states-of-street-view.html)
To use the feature on Google maps, drag the orange man icon on the upper left corner onto the spot on the map you'd like to see from ground level.
(If the icon is grayed out, that means a street view is not available.)
The Hawai'i images were captured this summer by a car rigged with an 8-foot-tall stalk topped with a ring of cameras.
The Google car cruised public streets, snapping pictures left and right.
The result is that not only can you see your own house, you can rotate the image and see houses on the other side of the street.
Laura Melahn, Google product marketing manager, said in the Google blog, "Being born and raised on O'ahu, I like to think we saved the best for last."
Her statement said, "With our imagery of O'ahu and Maui, you can now take a virtual vacation to white sandy beaches, revisit special places from your honeymoon, or plan your next getaway.
"We've worked with the Hawai'i Visitors and Conventions Bureau to create collections in our new Street View Gallery featuring Hawaii's best beaches and hometown favorites of President Obama."
Google Street View has raised privacy concerns, even though the images are captured from public vantage points. Some critics have argued that because the photos are taken from a raised platform, they can peer over walls and otherwise offer views not normally available from the street.
A Pittsburgh couple sued Google, claiming it "significantly disregarded (their) privacy interests" when Street View cameras captured images of their house beyond signs marked "private road," according to The Business Insider Web site. Aaron and Christine Boring sought more than $25,000 in damages.
However, in February the U.S. District Court for Western Pennsylvania dismissed the lawsuit.
Did you get a chance to play with Google Earth - Street View yet? Pretty cool stuff.
I even saw the Google car cruising around town.
See the blue car with a pod of cameras mounted high on the roof?
Sometimes the pictures can be off due to timing - after all, the Google car can't be everywhere at once.
For example, see the event going on at Bishop Square (picture taken from Bishop Street)
I make the turn and look at Bishop Square from King Street and...
The event is gone!
Or maybe was just pau as you can see the guy sweeping up the courtyard.
I even took a virtual trip to Las Vegas - from downtown to the strip and all the way out to Primm!
Okay, who wants to take a virtual trip with me to Seattle and see if we can find KAN waiting at a bus stop. But I noticed when you zoom in on pictures, faces and vehicle license numbers are blurred out.
And the street view even works in places like Japan! Not quite as many street views as the U.S. but M and Masako should have a good time trying to find their favorite spots that they visited.
If you haven't downloaded Google Earth, I'd suggest you do. It's a great waste of time way to revisit places you've been or even help planning a trip. Or if you need to find a certain store or home, it can be a great asset.
But at the same time, it can also be kinda creepy...
Tags: Bishop Square, Bishop Street, camera pod, creepy, google car, Google Earth, Google Street View, Honolulu Advertiser, Japan, Kauai, King Street, Las Vegas, Maui, midlife crisis blog, Oahu, paparazzi, Rodney Lee, Seattle
November 11th, 2009 at 5:01 am
First!!
November 11th, 2009 at 5:01 am
Eh Rodney, being that they did this in Hawaii, is there any chance they caught Braddah Lance zipping through town on his scooter?
November 11th, 2009 at 5:06 am
Do you know if they just brought the car down, or have they brought the tricycles as well? Around here, they brought bicycles as well, to map areas (like bike paths) where cars can't go.
November 11th, 2009 at 6:04 am
Tried to view Mililani and they mapped through Meheula Parkway but Google Earth crashed and exited. I'll try again.
November 11th, 2009 at 6:21 am
Good Morning and Honoring All Veterans!
Hey Rod, I tried it and fortunately (I guess) I live down a private lane so the view is only of the main street. No one needs to see if I was getting my mail or taking out trash. ha!
Seems like a good tool for people like me who are not so good at getting around, we can "see" the area before we get there. Cool.
Sally>>>Honoring Veterans by going to work today!
November 11th, 2009 at 6:39 am
Rodney........I tried it yesterday and its neat and "scary" at the same time. "BIG BROTHER" is really here. Thank goodness my yard looked "decent" when that car came by.
OL
November 11th, 2009 at 6:44 am
*Ynaku jumping up and down at Hilo Harbor*
You see me waiting for the Super Fairy?
Bwahahaha.
November 11th, 2009 at 7:16 am
Good Veteran's Day Morning All!!
I saw the Google Streetview car 3 times while it was going around Oahu. I am actually in one of the shots!! But like you said, they probably take the best shots. Right when they get close to my ugly okole, the shot is from a totally different day and I'm not there. Better view I guess.
November 11th, 2009 at 7:32 am
@ Rod - Big Bro was always here, muwahaha
@ Sally - Better check it out again, I see you giving the #1 sign to da camera,
@ Ynaku - Hey I can see you, now where is that dang Ferry so I can go race and visit my Ohana on Maui. Then go surf at Honolii with you.
Been playing with this for over a year now, it's great to go back and visit some of the places that I've been to, while working or vacation.
November 11th, 2009 at 7:53 am
Wow! I can see my parents' house! I can tell the shots are recent (gotta be, right?) because I can see the garage door and my dad's (fairly newly-purchased) truck in the driveway.
My friend's mom lives in Florida. He google-mapped his mom's address one night, and the image showed her standing in front of the house, shading her eyes with her hand, looking at the Google car.
November 11th, 2009 at 8:09 am
Ynaku: *Hoooey Hoooey! Shaka Shaka!*
@RBB: That wasn't me, was my twin sis Trixie. bhahaha
KAN: that's funny, your friend's mom hahaha!
I forget what year it was (I think 1999) Super Bowl was in Miami and we were on a overnight layover on the way to Puerto Rico. While eating at a restaurant outdoor seating (12 of us) we saw a container type truck go by and the whole side of it was like a huge monitor screen so we all jumped up and down doing shakas. We always wondered if it showed on TV. Probably not.
*Sally and friends no shame look stoopid*
Gotta go work now... have a fun holiday everybody!
November 11th, 2009 at 8:15 am
hey way cool
this feature has revolutionized mapquest (for us allatime-lost on the mainland,) cause now you can see what they mean by "slight left" and everything.
November 11th, 2009 at 8:16 am
Kinda spooky. Ho-o if that camera went by some of the strip bar entrances at night, I could be in trouble.
November 11th, 2009 at 8:34 am
I've used it for the mainland on Google Earth before, but it's neat to see your own hometown. Found my house...no cars in the garage or neighbors on the street that day.
November 11th, 2009 at 9:03 am
I checked out street view of my work site and saw my car in the parking lot...pretty neat.
A while back when my sister-in-law was missing on Waimano Trail, my son had used Google Earth and overlayed a trail map to help in the search. Google Earth is also useful if you only have longitude/latitude coordinates to work with.
November 11th, 2009 at 9:46 am
hemajang: I heard that's what some folks were using in New Orleans after the flooding following Hurricane Katrina. Since streets were mostly washed out, some folks were giving long./lat. coordinates.
November 11th, 2009 at 10:38 am
I found my car in the work parking lot, but when I look at it from a cross street, the car's moved. Obviously taken on different days.
November 11th, 2009 at 11:12 am
Morning everybody
Wow!!!! das pretty neat
took a look at my house 
I wasn't as lucky as OL 
my garage and yard all messy 
NKHEA..... betta go clean da garage and yard 4 next time
November 11th, 2009 at 11:52 am
I found my parents' house in Honolulu. The car was in the garage so someone was home, but no one was outside.
Chicago has been on Google Street View for some time, but I took a look at my house to see if the photos had been updated, and they had. I'm guessing maybe summer 2008.
My husband has been a fan of Google Earth since its inception, but right now I think he might be agreeing more with "it can also be kinda creepy..." because he can be clearly seen washing his truck in front of our house!
In the satellite view, there is a dark blot on the back sidewalk which I am going to assume is one of my dogs. In fact, I posted it back in January on my blog captioned "My dog as seen from outer space."
November 11th, 2009 at 11:57 am
Hello Rodney!
That's cool stuff!
November 11th, 2009 at 12:41 pm
I found my house!
November 11th, 2009 at 3:22 pm
wot dat blue box in front of the HA building? Is it The Other Paper?
http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&source=s_q&hl=en&geocode=&q=honolulu,+hi&sll=21.303071,-157.855305&sspn=0.006367,0.005761&ie=UTF8&hq=&hnear=Honolulu,+Hawaii&ll=21.303154,-157.855344&spn=0.003164,0.002881&t=h&z=18&layer=c&cbll=21.303071,-157.855305&panoid=NydfEqtJ5YZACb2a8tQu4Q&cbp=12,225.67,,0,9
November 11th, 2009 at 3:26 pm
Google Earth is great! i always check it out. sightseeing right from your computer.
i actually use it for work sometimes.....instead of our GIS.....to do quick preliminary searches of existing conditions of project sites and also 3D surface terrain to better visualize the area. it's much faster and easier to navigate than our GIS for quick searches.
November 11th, 2009 at 3:32 pm
NKHEA - eh....i just checked out my brudders house and still look da same! WWD?!
haha!
November 11th, 2009 at 4:00 pm
opso; you no look so good das why
NKHEA..... goin start cookin dinna
November 11th, 2009 at 5:04 pm
@gecko - Yup, that's the "other guys" paper. Because it's on public property, we can't prevent them from putting their box right there.
But that's okay. Sometimes people need to see the competitions work to appreciate ours.
November 16th, 2009 at 6:02 am
On more than one occasion, I have "found" a name and/or address of a business that I "know." That is I know where it is, but my memory doesn't work enough to remember the name and certainly not the address. I just "know" where it is, so I find it in Google Maps (I'm a Gmailer), go into Street View mode and look for the business name and street address numerals painted on the sidewalk or business signs. I am usually successful when using this tactic. Once I find the business name or address, then a quick Google Search will produce a phone number...mission accomplished!