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Police in U.S. used Street View to locate missing child

Google offers a wide variety of services today that have branched out from its core search offering. The company runs the most successful online advertising service around and has a wealth of other services ranging from email to maps and much more.

Google's Street View service has been both welcomed and cursed by different users. Google has been in hot water for taking detailed street view images of military installations and some people have complained that the images violate their privacy by putting images of their homes online and often images of homeowners, as well.

In Britain, some residents in the village of Broughton actually blocked the Street View service car from entering the village because they were concerned about privacy. Street View isn't all bad though. InformationWeek reports that police in both the U.S. and the UK have been able to use Street View images to help them catch criminals and locate missing children.

Google's Gavin McGinty issued a statement in the European Public Policy blog saying, "[We] believe that mapping can be useful in raising awareness locally about crime and helping people take action to prevent it."

The same month the statement was issued, a teen in the Netherlands spotted two men who had mugged him six months before by using Street view images. The Street View car had snapped images of the two men moments before the crime.

The police requested that Google provide the unaltered image with the faces of the two men not blurred out and Google provided the image. The two men were arrested, but have not been charged reports InformationWeek. Police in Massachusetts also used Street View images to locate a missing 9-year-old.

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Nice but...
By WoWCow on 6/22/2009 12:10:06 PM , Rating: 4
Let's hope it doesn't turn the US government into a surveillance state.

I don't know about the UK, but doesn't the British already have all sorts of gimmicky cameras placed everywhere?

Anyone else scared that google may become the Big brother of the modern society before the government? :P




RE: Nice but...
By ApfDaMan on 6/22/2009 12:12:13 PM , Rating: 2
Im scared google already is the big brother of modern society...


RE: Nice but...
By bhieb on 6/22/2009 1:55:24 PM , Rating: 2
The only difference between this and a camera on every street is the refresh rate. I for one think it is of little value to the "traveler" and a pretty big privacy issue. It is a gimmick at best, and just because it is Google is no excuse. If a local city tried to do this, or even MS, they would catch so much hell. Where has all of this Google trust came from? Nothing as invasive as public surveillance by a private intensity should be and OPT OUT process. Legally they are right nothing seen in one of these images is "private" any person walking by could have saw it. However I think it is different when that image is recorded and made available for anyone to see. I may not care if my neighbor sees me run out to the mailbox in my boxers one morning, but I sure don't want the entire world to have access to it. Nor do I think it is my job to monitor google maps to OPT OUT.


RE: Nice but...
By Regected on 6/22/2009 2:59:06 PM , Rating: 5
I have used Google street view many times to get information from store signs as well as finding out what important intersections look like before I take a trip to somewhere I've never been before. Google street view provides no more information than you would get driving by a place yourself.

We are in the information age like it or not.


RE: Nice but...
By Jedi2155 on 6/22/2009 3:59:44 PM , Rating: 2
I have also used street view many times in order to realize that certain details given by a top-view map are not realized until you see at the street level thus helping me avoid making some potential wrong directions.


RE: Nice but...
By Belard on 6/23/2009 4:41:34 AM , Rating: 2
Yep, same here.

Like I had to go to a new doctors office... I found it on the map, but going to street view allowed me to SEE exactly what the building looks like as I would when driving up to it.


RE: Nice but...
By bhieb on 6/23/2009 9:39:52 AM , Rating: 1
To all the above. It is a "nice" feature, but really a novelty. Lets face it if turn right at street X is not good enough for you, you may have bigger problems in life. Seriously I flew in and rented a car in an unknown city a few weeks ago and dare I say that I actually got to my destination with map. If you have problems getting to your destination with out street view, you have serious issues.


RE: Nice but...
By mindless1 on 6/23/2009 4:15:51 PM , Rating: 2
While I agree with that, it is still handy to see the same view you would in the car, sometimes street signs are not easily visible or at least not in time to get your turn signal on to alert the driver behind you and slow down in densely populated areas with a fair amount of traffic.

Same goes for addresses, even when homes or businesses are marked it is not always a good idea to take your eyes off the road so long to scan the sides of the street for this information to coordinate it with the overhead map and address. It doesn't seem as big a deal in an area you are familiar with but since you're using a map in the first place, presumably you aren't so familiar with the destination.

It should also be realized that as with all things, some are inherently wired mentally to be better at some things than others and the same goes for navigation, and further the more one does the same or very similar things the better they become at it.

The point is, more information is a good thing in general even if you don't want to depend on it, though there is still the privacy issue in that even if you accept you have no privacy where the general public could see you IRL, that doesn't quite mean one wants a continual historical reference of what they are doing at any random moment a camera might catch them whether it be an embarrassment factor or security factor or just unfounded paranoia because those out to do harm may benefit from more info just like those only looking to drive from point A to point B.


Inconsistent
By Danger D on 6/22/2009 12:49:18 PM , Rating: 4
I don't know why, but for some reason I find this report just as annoying as I do the reports about Streetview protesters.

Anyone else?




RE: Inconsistent
By tmouse on 6/22/2009 5:51:33 PM , Rating: 2
The article is a bit ridiculous. The mugging story was a one in a million chance the camera caught the crime in progress and the second "solved" crime story has nothing to do with Google streetview. Google maps was just used to ID latitude and longitude of a phone the police were tracking using GPS (you would think they would have a better way than having to use Google). If someone’s IPod fell out of their pocket and hit a mugger on the head while he was mugging someone would DT or informationweek write Apple helps thwart crime?

Probably


Hurray!
By Motoman on 6/22/2009 12:42:05 PM , Rating: 4
Now we'll be getting wonky little villagers begging to have their communities Googled so they can be protected from crime.

Public area. Camera. Legal. Period. STFU.




Privacy from google
By Gazz on 6/22/2009 9:47:03 PM , Rating: 2
I feel like saying so what it is just an invasion of privacy that google is alowed to do what they are doing with these street camerers but haveing said that it seems like the would is becomeing more invasive for the sake of apeesing the needs of the many.I say good if it will stop crime,but what about the crime of privacy invasion everywhere you look now you see adds on the footpath takeing up space on every website,book,paper,t-shert,building,even cable-TV which was once over here add free TV now has adds.And if you ad the fact that everything nowdays has to be transperent from big co-orperate buisnesses to just working to the corner shop or mal your being watched by cameras in the street now you have google and saterlite spying going on so yes in one way it is good for everyone as a whole knowing what everyone else is doing but it is still an evasion of privacy.
And when i go to website I usualy shorten the window just to alow the printed text to be readable those moveing adds can be too distracting
Good article ( PS. I use outlook express because there are no adds flassing me in the face while I am reading my male )
Gazz




Historical Value
By drycrust on 6/23/2009 7:25:29 AM , Rating: 2
I think Streetview is the greatest historical recording device ever. I don't think any other form of recording (to date) is be able to match Streetview. In 100 years time those towns and cities which weren't "Streetviewed" will regret it.
In addition, it is excellent as a means of conveying information about a locality. I had contacted my local city council about a set of traffic lights that weren't functioning correctly. They replied in an email stating they didn't have any traffic lights at the intersection I had stated. I emailed the Streetview link to them and a week later the lights were fixed.




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