backtop

Blog: Internet Google "Street View" Catches Folks in The Act
Brandon Hill (Blog) - March 25, 2008 12:51 PM
Print E-mail del.icio.us 21 comment(s) - last by Blight AC.. on Mar 31 at 4:43 PM

Smile for the camera!  (Source: Google)
Google Street View can sometimes pick up on some less than savory moments.

Google Street View is a nifty little tool that can be used with the Google Maps program. I'm sure that many of you have Googled your home or some of your hangouts to see if you could find your car or simply just "cruise" through town at street level.

I personally used the feature to zoom in on my house at street level to see my car parked in my driveway as the Google Street View vehicle whizzed by unannounced.

On other occasions, I've seen people post their Street View finds online. Just last month, I ran across an accident in Phoenix, Arizona caught by a Street View vehicle. The vehicle captures a Range Rover upside down after it crashed into an Audi Q7. Panning around the scene, you can see bystanders looking on in amazement.

Today, however, when visiting my favorite place for car-related topics, The Car Lounge, I came across a rather interesting Google Street View find. The Google Street View vehicle appears to capture a drug deal going down in one of Chicago's rather seedy neighborhoods.

The apparent "deal" doesn't appear to faze any of the bystanders in the scene as they are going about their business.

But it just goes to show that Google's reach is extending into just about every facet of American life... even if it's not in a way that the company would prefer.

For the rest of you out there, post your interesting Street View finds from around the U.S. Don't be shy, I'm sure that the DailyTech readership can find some interesting scenes of your own.

Comments     Threshold


This article is over a month old, voting and posting comments is disabled
Image no longer available
By Bioniccrackmonk on 3/25/2008 8:45:49 PM , Rating: 3
Try showing my friend tonight but street view no longer has it.




RE: Image no longer available
By onwisconsin on 3/25/2008 9:57:32 PM , Rating: 3
Same here, but you can still see it if you go the nearest intersection and look around/zoom...
http://maps.google.com/maps?hl=en&ie=UTF8&layer=c&...


RE: Image no longer available
By onwisconsin on 3/25/2008 9:57:58 PM , Rating: 2
Never mind the link...


RE: Image no longer available
By Lord 666 on 3/30/2008 8:48:36 PM , Rating: 2
Or go forward or back two frames to see the same transaction. Google removed the pictures to remove the crystal clear view of license plate.

What would be more interesting is to see how the Google truck was decoyed driving through those streets. Did they put spinners or 21's" with some deep tint and slamming system?


RE: Image no longer available
By AlphaVirus on 3/28/2008 5:29:40 PM , Rating: 2
Are the pictures on Google Street submitted by users or are they picked up by the Google Satellite?


RE: Image no longer available
By VahnTitrio on 3/31/2008 4:34:18 PM , Rating: 2
They drove around with a van that had a panoramic camera mounted on top of it. If you aim the camera down you can see parts of the van itself.


RE: Image no longer available
By Blight AC on 3/31/2008 4:43:45 PM , Rating: 2
It's a vehicle (typically a Van) that drives around and takes a picture every so often. There's a shot of it where you can see the reflection of the van itself in a storefront window:
http://www.engadget.com/2007/05/31/the-google-stre...


OBL
By FS on 3/25/2008 3:38:55 PM , Rating: 1
So, when is it going to help us catch Osama Bin Laden ?

PS: I am sure people wouldn't like it, if we do catch OBL with the help of it; as it'll be very easy to justify an invasion of privacy in future.




RE: OBL
By yodataco on 3/26/2008 1:05:53 PM , Rating: 2
When Google develops "Google Cave View" for the US Military.


RE: OBL
By xsilver on 3/26/2008 1:33:22 PM , Rating: 2
either that or whenever he decides to fly in to score some dope on your nearest google sanctioned street corner.

that link to the range rover vs audi was pretty cool, not only do you have an accident but one as rare as a new suv jackknifing upside down? what are the chances? At least now you know that if you drive a range rover to be wary of being t-boned by another suv; prepare to go upside down!


RE: OBL
By petalsofpain on 3/30/2008 2:28:52 AM , Rating: 2
I am just still surprised that there hasn't been that much of a response even know citing events that are in equal ways as the 'Big Mac' incident able to bring just more of the populace to awareness of what goes on.

I thought that this would have been the thing that would have been bringing in the most of the positive response to this feature. There just aren't any bad ways that any pesky politicians are going to spin random sightings into obscuring reality from making citizens able to make up their own minds...

(Yes I was thinking perhaps even obliterate the more... CNNish wayz that are about on the News Networks that are broadcasting on a national level.)

Just hoping still that some more optimism will come from this 'increased level of awareness' will give to the 'populace'.

Always in doubt! When it is CNN...


Come on now
By Kefner on 3/26/2008 3:14:15 PM , Rating: 2
The guy in the car just went to McDonald's and got his friend a Big Mac, and the friend is simply paying for his food. Why must we always assume an image like the above is a drug deal! :-)




RE: Come on now
By Brandon Hill (blog) on 3/26/2008 9:30:11 PM , Rating: 3
Any GOOD friend would hand over the Big Mac first before accepting cash :)


RE: Come on now
By MDE on 3/28/2008 2:23:49 AM , Rating: 2
A TRULY good friend wouldn't allow them to eat the Big Mac.

:P


Big Brother
By Marvlarv on 3/26/2008 9:52:53 AM , Rating: 1
Google is like big brother




RE: Big Brother
By JAB on 3/26/2008 10:50:11 PM , Rating: 2
No that would be putting one on each street corner and using face recognition or collecting everyones personal info into a national database and tracking your movements---- kind of like the Real ID program.

The fatherland must be protected, the constitution will be suspended until the emergency is over. The FBI doesn't even pretend to follow the 4th amendment. Look at the phone/internet tapping mess. Your information belongs to us!

How about the government posting fake hyperlinks and any IP that opens it can get arrested even if you get Rick Rolled - or your computer opens it automatically to speed browsing. No evidence needed.

The FBI could be the one that links to it in a email. Click on the "joke" or have it automatically scanned.... Enjoy your life time probation.

It would be nice if Google allowed you to use encrypted pages to well google the net. There are just too many government agents who thinks it is their job to watch the people instead of watch oven them.


RE: Big Brother
By petalsofpain on 3/27/2008 2:48:20 PM , Rating: 2
Rather... negative a mindset...

I would have thought that there would be more of a positive attitude about this since the whole idea makes it so that you are able to lookabout and do stuff of the kind that you would have otherwise needed to have had access to a dedicated system of surveillance cameras to maintain.

This way... don't think that those pesky burglars are going to be annoying you real bad anytime soon. Just consider the fact that Google is offering this service free of charge and you see the kind of change that is good just there...


This reminds me of Manhunter
By MrBlastman on 3/25/2008 1:17:35 PM , Rating: 2
Anyone remember Manhunter?

Every time I use this and go down to the street view, when I click the arrows to move forward, back etc., I hear in my head those footsteps Manhunter would make. I also imagine hearing that little bleep noise when I mouse over the arrow.

Ahh. What a great series. Too bad they never made a 3rd one (other than the fan made game).

If we look hard enough, do you think we might find some Orbs floating around?




Image removed
By Leirith on 3/25/2008 8:46:19 PM , Rating: 2
"it's not in a way that that the company would prefer."

Indeed, as the image is now no longer available.




By Screwballl on 3/28/2008 4:52:55 PM , Rating: 2
http://www.cnet.com/8301-13739_1-9902548-46.html

According to Google's own EULA, no one under 18 is allowed to use the search or any other function on Google.




By petalsofpain on 3/25/2008 2:40:46 PM , Rating: 1
This is really the start of something new again... the ultimate response to Big Brother Epsilon and all that other crap... and it really doesn't let you get away with ignoring things...

Me I say that it is about time XDXD!! Makes for a whole lot of more interesting things to be doing when you are wasting time on the net. I am for sure am going to try and look things up after seeing something like this. I sure hope that there are others that are feeling the liberating feel that this brings about. Just when you were thinking that Bush and the Republicans were able to get about with any kind of cheating you see something like this...

Hallelujah and Amen and no I am not a christian or devout of anything substantial. It just plain feels good to be alive when there are things like this going about.

Peace to you all. Feeling mighty good over here^^!




"If you look at the last five years, if you look at what major innovations have occurred in computing technology, every single one of them came from AMD. Not a single innovation came from Intel." -- AMD CEO Hector Ruiz in 2007