What is Google Street View?
Google Street View is a software tool that allows users to virtually explore panoramic views of neighborhoods, cities and other areas around the world from their devices. It forms part of Google’s suite of mapping tools along with Google Maps and Google Earth.
The photography for Google Street View is primarily done by cars mounted with camera systems and sensors. But Street View goes beyond city streets and Google uses backpacks, boats, tricycles, snowmobiles, underwater apparatus and even camels in some remote locations such as historical sites and hiking trails. Google also incorporates images submitted by users and purchased from satellite and photography companies.
What is Google Street View used for? It can be useful for a range of purposes, including route or trip planning, virtual tourism, real estate search, finding specific locations and checking the surroundings of a new area before you visit.
Key Takeaways
- Google Street View provides 360-degree panoramic views of streets, neighborhoods, rural areas, historical sites and other locations around the world.
- Initially launched in the US in 2007, Google Street View now covers significant parts of all continents.
- Google uses its own vehicles equipped with cameras, GPS, and other sensors to capture images, which are then stitched together to create seamless panoramic views.
- Google has implemented privacy features such as blurring individuals’ faces and license plates to address concerns, but it continues to receive criticism about violations of personal privacy.
- Google Street View offers ground-level images, while Google Maps provides a comprehensive mapping service and Google Earth displays 3D terrains, satellite imagery, and geographic data layers.
Google Street View History
The precursor to Google Street View was a project at Stanford University sponsored by Google that ran from 2001 until 2006, called the Stanford CityBlock Project. The technology was folded into Street View, which launched in May 2007 in five US cities as a feature of Google Maps. It provided users with street-level views of San Francisco, New York, Las Vegas, Denver, and Miami.
Google gradually expanded its coverage over the years to include other US cities and eventually to international locations. The first streets in Europe were in mapped in 2008 during the Tour de France, and Street View went live in the UK in 2009.
By 2010, Google Street View covered much of Europe, Japan, Australia, and parts of Latin America and Asia. It now provides coverage of large areas of all seven continents, including remote locations such as the Amazon rainforest, the Great Barrier Reef and parts of Antarctica.
How Google Street View Works
Google Street View collects street-level images from a fleet of vehicles fitted with systems that incorporate 360-degree cameras, GPS units, and LIDAR sensors to capture detailed images and spatial data as they drive. The vehicles follow predetermined routes and capture images in all directions every few meters. The images are then processed to remove distortions and create continuous panoramic perspectives.
Contributors can also submit 360-degree imagery via Street View Studio for Google to use.
In response to privacy concerns, Google blurs faces and license plates that are visible in the images. Individuals pictured can request additional blurring.
Google Street View vs. Google Maps & Google Earth
Google Street View: Street-level, 360-degree panoramic views of streets and locations.
Google Maps: Comprehensive mapping service with directions, traffic updates, overhead views from satellite imagery, business information.
Google Earth: Immersive exploration of the Earth with 3D terrains, satellite imagery, and geographic data layers.
Google Street View: Exploring streets, neighborhoods or locations in detail.
Google Maps: Navigation, business searches and trip planning.
Google Earth: Global terrain exploration, geographic data analysis, and educational purposes.
Google Street View: Available within Google Maps and Google Earth.
Google Maps: Part of the broader Google Maps platform with access to Street View and business data.
Google Earth: Standalone PC and phone app with integration into Google Maps and Street View; allows 3D rendering and importing/displaying geographic data.
Google Street View: Ground-level photographic rendering of the world.
Google Maps: Driving, walking, and public transportation directions; real time traffic updates.
Google Earth: 3D visualization, historical imagery, ocean floor exploration, virtual tours of landmarks, and the most tools for importing and displaying geographic data.
Google Street View: Photographic images captured at ground level.
Google Maps: Overhead satellite and aerial photography overlays.
Google Earth: Immersive satellite imagery, 3D buildings and terrain.
Google Street View: Accessible through Google Maps and Google Earth.
Google Maps: Accessible via web browsers and mobile apps.
Google Earth: Available as a PC and phone app only (not web-based because of real-time 3D rendering capabilities).
Google Street View: Real estate searches, virtual tourism, route planning.
Google Maps: Navigation, finding businesses, trip planning.
Google Earth: Importing and displaying geographic data, such as for urban planning, environmental studies and real estate analysis.
How to Use Google Street View
If you’re looking for how to use Google Street View on Google Maps, it can be accessed on desktop and mobile devices:
- On desktop: Navigate to maps.google.com in a web browser and either drop the yellow Pegman figure onto a street on the map or click on a location to access Street View.
- On mobile: Open the Google Maps app, tap on a location, and then select the Street View thumbnail.
Streets that have Street View imagery available are shown in Google Maps as clickable blue lines. You can click or tap on the arrows on the street to shift your view along the street, or drag the mouse around to gain a 360-degree view. The zoom feature allows you to take a closer look at specific parts of the images. You can use the measurement tool to gauge distances between points.
Google has made Google Maps’ Street View history available for some areas to show how a location has changed over time. Click “See more dates” to see a carousel of images from various dates in the past.
In certain locations, indoor Street View allows you to see inside businesses, museums, and other buildings.
Privacy Concerns
Since its launch, Google Street View has faced criticism that it violates the privacy of the people who its cameras unintentionally capture in their private spaces or sensitive locations. As the cameras record images from elevated positions, they often capture views over walls and hedges intended to protect private locations from public view.
Google has responded by implementing several privacy measures including automatically blurring faces and vehicle license plates, providing additional blurring of people, their homes, vehicles, or other identifying features at their request and following strict data handling guidelines.
However, critics argue that Google should do more to protect individuals’ privacy, particularly as people can be captured in compromising situations without their consent.
Several European countries initially prevented Google Street View from operating, until Google lowered the height of its cameras, deleted WiFi data that it collected without permission, or made other privacy guarantees.
Street View was banned from Austria from 2010 until 2017 and its coverage in Germany was not updated between 2011 and 2023 because of public opposition.
Google Street View Pros and Cons
- Convenience
- Planning
- Educational
- Accessibility
- Privacy concerns
- Inaccuracy
- Technical limitations
The Bottom Line
Google Street View, by definition, provides street-level views of locations around the world. It has expanded beyond large US cities to remote areas on land and underwater.
Google Street View has changed the way Internet users interact with and explore the world. However, while it offers individuals a convenient way to explore locations and businesses an effectives method of advertising, Google’s method of recording information using cameras, sensors and WiFi data has raised privacy concerns that persist despite some efforts to obscure individuals’ identities.
As Google continues to develop Street View, striking the right balance between utility and privacy will be key to its continued success.
FAQs
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References
- Sign in – Google Accounts (Streetviewstudio.maps.google)
- Google Street View launches in Kazakhstan (Blog)
- Google Maps (Google)
- Why Germany is a blank spot on Google’s Street View (Bigthink)
- Entdeckt Deutschland mit Google Street View! (Blog)