Anyone else addicted to Google Street View?

Post Reply New Topic

http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&i ... _medium=ha

They keep adding more and more roads on here. They have most of the US on here and parts of Europe, Japan, and Australia/ New Zealand

Oh YES! I have been spending a lot of time on Google Street View over the last few days especially now that they've just added pretty much every street and rural road in every town and village in parts of the US.

A few months back I did a coast-to-coast trip across America on Google Street View, at least the sections that were included at the time. Those that weren't, I was generally able to follow by means of aerial and bird's eye views on Windows Live Maps. Now they have added all of the Interstates etc. so I might redo this coast-to-coast trip.

This weekend I have been studying in depth a couple of small, remote southern towns on Google Street View, namely Holly Hill, South Carolina and Lucedale, Mississippi. These are tiny towns in the middle of nowhere and an extremely low local population base/density, which is partly what I'm interested in. I was surprised at the facilities both towns had. They are in the population range of 1,000-2,000 but you'll find stores like McDonalds, KFC, Domino's Pizza etc. In the UK this wouldn't be the case but I guess the remoteness of the towns explains the facilities they have relative to their size.

Lucedale was particularly intriguing. Google Street View is of course nothing like experiencing the place for yourself, but the "guns and God" culture of the Deep South was apparent. There's a gun shop on the main street, and I came across the county sheriff's car - all this alongside many churches, including one which for some reason is some way out of the town in the country, and I also found a big roadside billboard heading out of town saying "An educated person knows the Bible....". I know Christian billboards like that are common in the South/Midwest but it was the first time I'd seen something of this type. There were a few quintessentially southern houses. But I don't think I'd enjoy going there, all in all. Although it's obviously very religious I got the impression of a contradictory culture, seeing things like the gun shop and sheriff were slightly intimidating.

Despite its size, little over 2,000, the place sprawls for several miles, again very surprising, although it's common knowledge that places in America sprawl more than here and I'd seen it on my coast-to-coast trip. In Lucedale it seemed to be almost 4 miles from north to south! Many of what are named as and considered to be "streets" and considered to be in the town are really rural driveways with like one house or two if you're lucky. And in cities like Indianapolis, for example, parts of the city only HALF A MILE from the very core of the city are what I'd consider in this country to look semi-rural.

Another place I really want to see is Wolcott, Indiana but it's not on Google Street View yet. I've only seen it in aerial form.

They should be adding cities in the UK some time soon, including Edinburgh, and possibly the main roads/motorways between them. I am looking forward to this.

Ha, yes, I love it!

I must be missing something. I followed the link, typed in an address then got only a map. I thought it was suppose to be photos or satellite images. Geez what's the use being a peepingtom if all that comes up is sketched out maps?

that is really scary. i just typed in my address and it was on street view, i could see everything! it was like i was standing on the corner looking at my dorm house

haha, i could see my neighbours hideous yards and my crappy neighbourhood

not like my place is anything to look at but damn, this is concerning

I saw my car on Google Street view parked in front of my aunt and uncle's house. I thought it was awesome.


I also look at the B&J house on it and my apartment.

How do you get the street view to come up? I tried the link again and all that comes up are crappy maps.

First, zoom in on where you want to see photos, then drag the guy who appears above the zoom meter to that area.

Ok I got it to work, thanks. And its dang creepy. I mean there's something almost evil about being able to view that. I "visited" my parents and grandparents house, their neighbors and childhood house. It looks like the pictures were taken in summer of 2006 because of the severe drought that summer and also the freshly dug earth around the telephone pole by my parents driveway where someone ran their car into it. Good grief I could look right up the driveway and into the carport. That's just too weird.

How did they get these pictures? I noticed no people in any of them and hardly any cars. Do they touch up the photos and remove things like that?

Luckily my address doesn't have a street view. It looks like other streets in my town were photographed during one of the bad snow storms, possibly last winter. That would explain why they didn't photograph my street because its like a dead end street and doesn't normally get snow plowed...the Google truck probably couldn't get down the street!

Is there any site that offers something like street view but in real time so I can watch my parents come and go at their house? I live thousands of miles away. It'd be cool to watch people remotely.

I just had a scary thought... what if I am being stalked remotely. This is very disturbing to think about.

that's creepy. when are these pictures taken, i wonder.

let's see if i can visit my cousin...there he is. most interesting.

It is creepy...
But also good for when you have to go somewhere new, because you can just streetview it before you go, then when you get there things will look kind of familliar.

LOL My neighbor's house is under construction on the thing! They've been living next door for a year and a half now. Also, no one in my courtyard bothered getting the newspaper by the mailboxes that day either. Well, at least the houses look nice.