Google Street View Has It’s Eye On You
You open a web browser. You type in an address for a house. The browser brings up a satellite image of the exact location that you are searching for. You want more. One more click of the mouse. You’re now looking at the house as if you were standing directly in front of it. Ten years ago this would have sounded like science fiction. Today we call it Google Street View. Google sends cars, tricycles, and even snowmobiles with panoramic cameras to photograph as much Earth, or should I say Google Earth, as possible.
Street View, a feature of both Google Earth and Google Maps applications, has been available only since 2007, but has already faced its fair share of praise and opposition. In the United States, Google was ordered to remove all images of military bases and some privately owned streets that did not give consent to be photographed; Google complied with no hesitation. Other countries, like Germany for instance, have voiced much louder complaints. In 2009, Google’s Global Privacy Counsel Peter Fleischer said that, “public opposition to Google Street View in Germany, though not hysterical, had been tougher than in any other country.” Almost a quarter of a million German citizens opted out of the service.
While Street View has met initial opposition by some, many, especially real estate companies, have fallen in love with the service. Street View allows potential homebuyers in say New Jersey to tour a neighborhood in Arizona without ever having to leave their home. It can also help sell homes that might have been initially overlooked. A house with fewer amenities than buyers were originally looking for could end up selling because it is across the street from a gym and the buyers are very health conscious. They might have never looked at the house if they didn’t use the 360-degree tool to virtually tour the neighborhood. While Street View has its virtues and its vices, for better or worse, it is the future. Instead of coming down on Street View one way or the other, we want to know what you think. Is it the beginning of Skynet? Is it an incredible tool that we have not scratched the surface of its potential yet? You tell us.
