Google offers 360-degree Street View of Metro Detroit

By MIKE WENDLAND


FREE PRESS TECHNOLOGY COLUMNIST


Google is now taking it to the streets of metro Detroit.
A new feature called Street View went live this morning on the Google Maps area of the popular search site, allowing users to get real 360-degree street imagery of metro Detroit streets, buildings and neighborhoods.


Google camera crews drove metro Detroit communities for several weeks early last year, capturing panoramic images that have been programmed into the search site, stitching together views that users can then pan and zoom in on as if they were in the street themselves.
How detailed are the photos?


Enough to read street signs, addresses and even recognize people if they happened to be visible as the Google camera crews drove public streets.


In San Francisco, where Google debuted the service in May, the detail on the map-photos was so great that privacy issues were raised. An attorney for the Electronic Frontier Foundation was unknowingly caught on an image smoking a cigarette, something he didn't want people to know he did.


Another image found on the San Francisco Street View was of a young woman who happened to be bending over near a pickup truck when the Google camera team passed by, inadvertently baring her thong.


Both images have since been removed.


Stephen Chau, product manager for Google Maps Street View, told me on Monday that anyone concerned about an image of themselves, their house address or license plate being recognizable can flag the photo and ask Google to remove it.


"At Google, we take privacy very seriously," he said, noting that identifying photos of domestic abuse shelters, for example, don't appear on the Street View images. He stressed, however, that Google crews drove public roads and only took photos of what was visible from the street.


Besides Detroit, seven other cities go live with the Street View feature today - Dallas; Ft. Worth, Texas; Boston, Providence, R.I.; Indianapolis; Minneapolis, and St. Paul, Minn.


They bring to 23 the total of cities now covered by the feature and Chau said Google plans to keep adding and expanding the service across the U.S., eventually to other countries.


Okay you eagle-eyed Freep readers, check out the new Detroit Street Level images service and let me know what you find that may raise an eyebrow or two. Try and get a screen grab and we'll post the best.


To See How It Works