Google Street View Face-Off

May 20th, 2008

As a research tool for Portland-area neighborhoods, Google’s Street View is pretty cool. Let’s say you want to know what the properties look like to each side and across the street from that Old PDX you’ve seen on a property search site.

Fire up Google Maps, click on Street View (where available), and ‘drive’ up and down the street — all without spending 4 bucks a gallon or flying out from Chicago in the process.

And maybe as a bonus, you’ll run into street scenes like this gent on the park bench (dig deep!):

And here’s a guy caught saving a cat…or perhaps running from a meth deal gone wrong. Who knows?

So Street View is pretty cool for neighborhood research, but privacy concerns have caused Google to begin testing ‘blurring’ technology on their photos to render identities, um, unidentifiable. (A Pittsburg couple recently filed suit for reckless privacy invasion when their faces showed up in a Street View.)

Here’s an example of Google’s face detection and blurring work in Manhattan:

So, while most people have gotten over the initial shock of pictures of their house being published on the internet, Google will likely refine their facial detection algorithms and turn us all into freakish sci-fi characters in future releases of Street View.

More coverage from WebWare. Other fun Street View discoveries here and here. UPDATE: and here (courtesy of Joel Burslem on Twitter.)

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Related posts:

1. Google Street View - En Fuego!
2. Takin’ It To The Streets, Google-style
3. Google Terrain Hints at Topo Features

Entry Filed under: Diversions, National News, Relocation