Funny Google Maps Street View
Google Earth Street View Fun and Information
Well... there really is no Criminal Defense Lawyer for stupidity and you can't sue yourself for Personal Injury, but I can at least show you people doing stupid things and being caught on camera by Google Maps. Here are some of my hand picked Google Street View images I have saw from other sites such as street view fun. Most of the funny satellite street views on the Google map are taken in the USA, but there are some of the pics are from other countries such as the UK, Canada, India, and England. I have most of the pictures already selected, however I will not be loading them all at once; but to give you a hint I got street view images ranging from a girl flashing Google Street Car to kids fighting on the street. The current countries where google street view has satellite aerial views of are: United States, United Kingdom, Czech Republic, France, Italy, the Netherlands, Portugal, Spain, Switzerland, Canada, Japan, Taiwan, Australia, New Zealand. I hope you enjoy and leave comments.
Dont forget that most of the street views are still 360 interactive so feel free to zoom in, zoom out, and play with the google street view maps on this page.
Google Street View Adds Hawaii: Oahu and Maui
To celebrate Google's new on adding my second home, Hawaii (Oahu and Maui), to round off its list of 50 states to street view maps, I am adding 2 street views from Oahu, Hawaii. Yeah, I know they aren't exactly funny, wacky, scary, or any of those crazy things, but they do show a really nice view for your viewing pleasure.
Waimea is one of my favorite spots in Oahu Hawaii because not only is it a great place to crack open some beers and check out the huge 30 foot surfs on certain times of the year, it is also infamous for the ROCK that tourists and locals love to free fall off of. Here is a great view of the Hawaiian Bay off of Kamehameha Highway; although you can not see the rock.
Google Street 3D 360 View Camera Used For Video
This is probably the coolest video concept I have ever seen. Just imagine the crazy views this could be used for in sports, movies, and even the porn industry. I am pretty sure this is a google earth street view camera that they rigged to be used as a video camera to give the captive audience a new interactive experience when watching videos. It is just a matter of time before this camera becomes mainstream and changed the user video watching experience on TV and Online.
Halloween and Paranormal Activity Special!
With Halloween just around the corner and all the hype and hooplah about Paranormal Activity I found a Google Earth Street View that might put chills down your back. Just a quick intro, anyone remember a creepy psycho from Antioch, California that kidnapped a 9 year old girl and then held her hostage for 18 years in his backyard? Watch Jaycee Dugard Tell Her Story of the Kidnapping
Phillip Garrido (Kidnapper of JayCee Dugard) already had signs of being a crazy sicko and even admitted that he used to hang around schools and masturbate while watching little girls play around the school yard. This story gets sicker, Garrido ended up getting JayCee Dugard pregnant twice while she was being held captive in his backyard and had 2 of his kids. I can go on and on about how sick this guy is, but I'll let you just read the rest of the News Story on Antioch Kidnapping of Jaycee Dugard Here. So onto the creepy street view! Here is a creepy, scary, chilling, sickening satellite street view of Phillip Garridos house where he held Jaycee Dugard captive for 18 years of her life in a wooden broken down shack in Antioch.
Garrido's Car Used to Kidnap and Abduct JayCee Dugard
But if you go along the street (move left from this image), Garrido go off from his house with his van, and follow the google car…
In the first shot you'll see Garrido's house with his van parked on the side of it, as you go south on the google 360 street view and view north, notice how the van starts to pull out his parking spot and turns directly behind the Google Street Car. Keep going south on Walnut until the street bends and turns into Bown Lane. Continue to keep going east on Bown Lane and notice how the beat up van (that was used in the handcuffing and kidnapping of JayCee Dugard ) creeps closer and closer to the google earth street view car until the street view car makes a right and Garrido stops at the stop sign. I dunno about you guys, but watching this and knowing what the van was used for creeps me out. Thank God that Garrido will now be put away for probably the rest of his life.
Google Street View of Personal Injury
October 27, 2009
Lady Eating Car Inside Out
DAMN! Baby Got Back... or Backed Into... This is not just an ordinary teen car accident folks. My initial thought about this funny street view map caught by Big Brother Google was damn did this chick just back her own car into herself? But then I took a closer look and it looks like she is actually trying to take some stuff out of her trunk and is too lazy to actually to jump into her car and move the car a couple inches up while she takes out what she needs. I can only imagine what the Google Street Car driver was thinking when he/she was driving past this funny yet disgusting site.
Kid Getting Knocked Out
What ever happened to the days of meeting someone up for a fight next to the train tracks? Check out this funny google street view of 2 kids from Wisconsin USA Fighting in front of a the Google Car. The kid in the orange ends up getting punched in face and posterized on street view. To be fair to the kid in the orange if you go east on the map two clicks you'll notice that the fight starts out with the kid in the striped shirt in a head lock, then if you go to the the west once you'll see that the guy in the orange let him out of the head lock, and then if you go west one more time the kid in the stripe gets pissed and you can see him punching the other kid in the face.
Funny Head on Bicycle Accident
Here is another UK aerial Google Street View fun of a bicycle accident. This is a google earth streetview of a man in a "dee dee dee" helmet and a lady in a "dee dee dee" reflector vest crash head on with their bicycles in Bristol, England. It is pretty funny how the biker in black looks back on the ground at the chick that ran into him like WTF?!?! While the chick is still struggling to get up. Another part of the 3D street view is the kid in the back that watches them eat it and then in the next frame is off on his skateboard like "Peace Losers". I can only imagine how bad this would have looked if it was a bike car accident.
Guy Falls Down on his Jumping Shoes
Once again Google earth catches an idiot with its Big Brother Cams, this time its in Scotland. OK, first things first, who is the genius that came up with the invention of trampoline shoes, and who the hell is stupid enough to buy them and actually use them in public?!?! Wow... I am almost lost for words about this one. I really thought he was wearing roller blades when I first saw this picture, but when I zoomed in closer at his shoes I noticed that it didn't have any wheels on it. The funny thing about this is that I bet you this guy thought he was pretty damn cool using those things on the street and maybe thought he could impress a girl with them on. I wonder if this guy can sue himself for personal injury .
Here is the definition of what google streetview is and some helpful info on how it works provided by wikipedia.com
Google Street View is a feature of Google Maps and Google Earth that provides 360° horizontal and 290° vertical panoramic views from a row of positions along the street (one every approximately 10 or 20 metres) for many streets in the world, from a height of about 2.5 metres. It was launched on May 25, 2007, and has gradually expanded to include more cities, and in these cities more streets, and also some rural areas.[1] These photographs are currently available for the United States, United Kingdom, Czech Republic, France, Italy, the Netherlands, Portugal, Spain, Switzerland, Canada, Japan, Taiwan, Australia, New Zealand. Coverage is shown by dragging "pegman" icon from its position, onto a map of any scale.
Google Street View displays scans taken from a fleet of Chevrolet Cobalt, Saturn Astra or Toyota Prius cars in North America, Opel Astras in Europe, Holden Astras in Australia and New Zealand, Toyota Prius cars in Japan, Fiat Stilos in Brazil, Toyota Yarises in South Africa [2] and Pontiac G5 in Mexico.[3] Pedestrian areas, narrow streets and park alleys that cannot be accessed by car are not always covered. However, sometimes Google Trikes (tricycles) are used.[4] On each of these cars (and tricycles) there are nine directional cameras for the 360° views, GPS units for positioning, three laser range scanners, manufactured by SICK, for the measuring of up to 50 meters 180° in the front of the vehicle. On the cars there are also 3G/GSM/Wi-Fi antennas for scanning 3G/GSM and Wi-Fi hotspots.[5] Recently, high quality images are based on open source hardware cameras from Elphel. These cameras are also used by Google book search.[6]
Where available, street view images appear after zooming in beyond the highest zooming level in maps and satellite images, and also by dragging "pegman" to some position. Using the keyboard or mouse the horizontal and vertical viewing direction and the zoom level can be selected. A straight or broken line in the photo shows the approximate path followed by the camera car; two arrows link to the next photo in each direction. At junctions and crossings of camera car routes, more arrows are shown.
On November 21, 2008, Street View was added to the Maps application installed on all of Apple iPhones. On December 10, 2008, Street View was added to the Maps application for S60 3rd Edition. Street View has now also been added to the Windows Mobile and BlackBerry versions of Google Maps. All versions of Google Maps for Android feature Street View, and the digital compass can be used to look around the locations.
Here are the locations of where google streetview cars have been in the past, going to right now, and where they will be in the future:
Google Street View was first introduced in the United States on May 25, 2007, and only covered areas of the United States until July 2, 2008. Currently, images can be seen in at least nine countries (although parts of other countries can be seen from locations located near national borders; for example, large portions of Vatican City can be viewed from Rome's streetview). Introductions have generally occurred every 2 days to 100 days. Up until November 26, 2008, major cities (and early on, the only cities) were marked by camera icons, more of which were added each time. Then, all camera icons were discontinued in favor simply of "blue" coverage.
North America
United States was the first country to have Street View images and was the only country with images for over a year following introduction. Early on, most locations had a limited number of views, usually constrained to the city limits and only including major streets, and they only showed the buildings up to a certain height. Few suburbs or other nearby cities were included.
After the first few sets of introductions, image collections from cities added were more detailed, often including every side street, especially in areas closer to the center of the city. More suburbs and other nearby cities were included.
The coverage of various cities has in many cases, subsequently been enlarged and improved, but not necessarily on the same date as new cities have been added. Improvements have included the additions of streets in neighborhoods where previously only main roads had been covered, expansions to more suburbs, and views to the sky where previously only views to a certain height were provided.
Initially when a group of cities were added, only those cities and their own suburbs would be a part of the image collection. But June 10, 2008 introductions also included cities in covered areas without camera icons and isolated from any other camera icons. Many more cities were added without icons on August 4, when the only U.S. city added with an icon was New Orleans.
On November 4, 2008, three more U.S. cities were added: Washington D.C., Baltimore, and Seattle. More parts of Seattle are available in high quality view (like Mercer Island and center of the city).
On December 9, 2008, extensive coverage of the United States was added. This included full coverage of all large and most medium-sized urban areas and most major highways and connecting arteries throughout the 48 contiguous states.
On March 18, 2009, extensive coverage of the United States was added including most of the coverage of Delaware, North Dakota, Rhode Island, and South Dakota. For a period of time some coverage was deleted (such as in northern Minnesota.)
In Canada, Google Street View cars had been spotted as early as September 2007, in Montréal. In Mexico, first reports of sightings came in from Mexico City as early as April 2009 and now Google Street View cars are being spotted in many Mexican states.
On October 7, 2009, Street View was made available for several large Canadian cities, as well as Banff National Park and Whistler, British Columbia (one of the sites for the upcoming 2010 Winter Olympics); coverage of the United States was also further expanded, although some key areas, such as the state of Hawaiʻi, have yet to be added. Google Street View cars were spotted in Honolulu in April 2009.[10]
Europe
Google's StreetView Camera Car in Wangen-Brüttisellen near Zürich, Switzerland, in April 2009.
The first views anywhere outside the United States were introduced on July 2, 2008, when the Tour de France route was added. Nineteen camera icons, each indicating part of a French city or town and Cuneo, Italy, were included.
On October 14, 2008, camera icons were introduced in six French cities, Lille, Lyon, Marseille, Nice, Paris and Toulouse. At the same time, all other icons that had been introduced in France on July 2, as well as the one of Cuneo, Italy, were removed, representing the first time in Street View's history that a camera icon that once marked a place was removed. But the amount of coverage that France had since July 2 was not diminished.
On October 27, 2008, four Spanish metropolitan areas were added to the list of growing street view locations in Europe. These include Madrid, Barcelona, Seville and Valencia.
On October 29, 2008, Italy received four camera icons for the localities of Florence, Milan, Rome, and Lake Como.
On March 18, 2009, the United Kingdom and the Netherlands were added. In the case of Great Britain, until now only major centers have been uploaded and coverage of those city centers is not 100%. For example, as of mid-April 2009, Edinburgh is missing Street View images of two of its key thoroughfares: Princes Street and the Royal Mile (although portions of both are visible from adjoining streets that have been imaged).
In May 2009, Google Germany released a list of German cities that will be scanned or rescanned in May and June 2009.[11]
On August 18, 2009, Switzerland and Portugal were added[12].
On October 7, 2009, Czech Republic was added.
Asia
Japan was also introduced on August 4, 2008. Japan's coverage is currently concentrated in five areas with a total of 10 camera icons. The service has faced criticisms from some in Japan of cultural insensitivity.[13] The Google Street View Cars were seen in Ishinomaki, Nagoya, Kitanagoya, Niigata, Hiroshima, Fukuoka, Naha and Miyakojima.[14]
Google Street View camera cars were spotted in the streets of Singapore in October 2008. Google has confirmed the fact that the Google Street View would be coming to Singapore a few months later.[15]
In early 2009, camera cars with the Google Street View labels were spotted in Hong Kong's streets. On August 18, 2009, Taipei, Taiwan was added.
Oceania
On August 4, 2008, the long-anticipated image collection of Australia was introduced. At this time, the bulk of Australia was included in detail, with 18 camera icons. Extensive mapping of New Zealand was included on December 1, 2008. On December 9, 2008, Darwin, Australia, and other locations were included.
Areas included
This list is not comprehensive as Google is adding new locations regularly.
United States
Canada
| Province/Territory | Major cities/areas |
|---|---|
| Alberta | Calgary, Banff National Park, Banff townsite, Canmore, Cochrane, Lake Louise |
| British Columbia | Vancouver, Abbotsford, Chilliwack, Squamish, Whistler, Surrey, White Rock, District and City of Langley, New Westminster, Burnaby, Port Moody, Coquitlam, Port Coquitlam, Pitt Meadows, Maple Ridge, Delta, Richmond, City and District North Vancouver, West Vancouver, Mission |
| Nova Scotia | Halifax Regional Municipality (part) |
| Ontario | Toronto, Ottawa, Hamilton, Dundas, Kitchener, Waterloo, Mississauga, Oakville, Vaughan, Richmond Hill, Markham, Brampton, Burlington, Pickering, Ajax, Whitby, Oshawa |
| Quebec | Montreal, Quebec City, Gatineau, Longueuil, Laval, Brossard, Boucherville, Saint-Lambert, Terrebonne, Sainte-Thérèse, Rosemère, Saint-Eustache, Boisbriand, Blainville, Lorraine, Repentigny, Varennes, La Prairie, Charlemagne, Deux-Montagnes, Sainte-Catherine, Delson, Saint-Constant, Île Perrot area, Sainte-Marthe-sur-le-Lac, Pointe-Calumet |
Oceania
Europe
Asia
| Region | Major cities/areas |
|---|---|
| Hokkaidō | Sapporo, Hakodate, Asahikawa |
| Tōhoku | Sendai |
| Kantō | Chiba, Saitama, Tokyo, Yokohama |
| Chūbu | Nagoya, Gifu |
| Kansai | Kobe, Osaka, Kyoto, Nara |
| Kyūshū | Nagasaki, Hirado, Tanegashima, Yakushima, Amami Ōshima, Tokunoshima, Okinawa, Miyako Islands |
| Region | Major cities/areas |
|---|---|
| Taipei City | Taipei City |
Future
German Google Cars at Rin Grand Hotel in Bucharest, Romania (December 14, 2008)
Google has stated that its ultimate goal is to provide street views of the entire world, although the company has not disclosed in advance the exact dates when any particular locations will be added.[16] A list of the places Google Street View vehicles are currently driving is available.[17]
Privacy issues
Privacy advocates have objected to this Google feature, pointing to views found to show men leaving strip clubs, protesters at an abortion clinic, sunbathers in bikinis, cottagers at public parks, people picking up prostitutes and people engaging in activities visible from public property in which they do not wish to be seen publicly.[61] Google maintains that the photos were taken from public property. Before launching the service, Google removed photos of domestic violence shelters, and it allows users to flag inappropriate or sensitive imagery for Google to review and remove.[62] When the service was first launched, the process for requesting that an image be removed was not trivial,[63] but Google has changed its policy to make removal more straightforward.[64] Images of potential break-ins, sunbathers, and individuals entering adult bookstores have, however, remained active and these images have been widely republished.[65][66]
In Europe, the creation of Google Street View may not be legal in all jurisdictions. Some European countries have laws prohibiting the filming without consent of an individual on public property for the purpose of public display.[67]
United States
Google Car in Hunters Point, Queens on June 4, 2009
In the law of the United States, the general rule (with some exceptions) is that there is no reasonable expectation of privacy in a public place, thus implying that Google (and anyone else) is usually free to take photographs in public places.
However, one of Google's responses to concerns about privacy laws outside the United States has been a pledge to blur the faces of people who are filmed on Street View photos taken both inside and outside the U.S. Google began blurring faces on 13 May 2008[68] and the images published since then, including the first launch of images in Europe on 2 July 2008, have all used face blurring (this process is automated; as a result even facial images on posters and billboards are often blurred).
Google delayed the release of its street views of the Baltimore-Washington Metropolitan Area following concern expressed by the United States Department of Homeland Security that some of the images taken might be of security-sensitive areas.[69]
The Pentagon has banned Google from publishing Street View content of U.S. Military bases and asked Google to remove existing content of bases. Google has complied with this order.[70]
Some parents have expressed concern over Street View compromising the security of their children.[71]
Aaron and Christine Boring, a Pittsburgh couple, sued Google for "invasion of privacy". Street View made a photo of their home available online, and they claimed that this diminished the value of their house, which they had chosen for its privacy.[72] They lost their case in a Pennsylvania court. "While it is easy to imagine that many whose property appears on Google's virtual maps resent the privacy implications, it is hard to believe that any – other than the most exquisitely sensitive – would suffer shame or humiliation," Judge Hay ruled.[73]
Some cities in the United States where all streets are privately owned have asked Google to remove Street View images because their consent was not given. North Oaks, Minnesota may have been the first. In that case, Google complied.[74]
Canada
While Canada, like other jurisdictions, has raised the issue of privacy concerns regarding Google Street View, the presence of Google cameras in one Canadian city in March 2009 gave rise to a different complaint. Les MacPherson, a columnist with the Saskatoon Star-Phoenix, complained in a March 28, 2009, column that the timing of the imaging, at the end of a protracted winter season and before the true onset of spring would cast an unfavorable image of Saskatoon and other cities. "What worries me more than any loss of privacy is the prospect of presenting to the world a highly unflattering impression of Canadian cities. With the possible exception of Victoria, they do not show off well in the spring. Google could not have picked a more inauspicious time to do its scanning. Saskatoon is unfortunately typical. For Google to record its images of the city at this most visually unappealing time of year is like photographing a beautiful woman who has just awakened from a six-month coma," he wrote.[75]
United Kingdom
Imported Opel Astra Street View Car in Southampton, Hampshire
In the first days of launch the UK service drew criticism due to privacy.[76] Images were found of a man leaving a sex shop, a man vomiting and another man being arrested. Some images were removed including those surrounding Downing Street.[77][78]
The service drew criticism in Belfast that it represented a "reckless" security risk, particularly for showing the exteriors of army bases and police stations so soon after the killing of two soldiers in the 2009 Massereene Barracks shooting, and a police officer.[79]
Soon after the launch human rights watchdog Privacy International sent a formal complaint about the service to the UK Information Commissioner's Office (ICO), which cited more than 200 reports from members of the public who were identifiable on Street View images. Privacy International director Simon Davies said that the organisation had filed the complaint due to the "clear embarrassment and damage" Street View had caused to many Britons. He said that Street View fell short of the assurances given by Google to the ICO in July 2008 that had enabled its launch, namely that privacy would be protected by blurring faces and vehicle licence plates, and asked for the system to be "switched off" while an investigation was completed. He said the few cases where Google's face blurring system had failed meant the data used by Street View would fall under UK Data Protection legislation, which requires that subjects give permission for the use of information concerning them.[80]
Davies subsequently sent an open letter to Google chief executive Eric Schmidt, accusing the company of briefing journalists against him, claiming Davies was biased in favour of Microsoft. Google has pointed to connections between Microsoft and data protection consultancy 80/20 Thinking, run by Davies, and has said that Davies' connections to Microsoft should be made clear in public, as the credibility of his criticisms is undermined by the fact that he acts as a consultant to companies who are direct rivals and critics of Google; a fact Davies rarely discloses in press releases or comments.[81]
However, on 23 April 2009, the Information Commissioner ruled that although Google Street View carries a small risk of privacy invasion it should not be stopped. They ruled that "There is no law against anyone taking pictures of people in the street as long as the person using the camera is not harassing people". They also ruled that Google Street View does not contravene the Data Protection Act, as an image of a house held on Street View is not a data protection matter, as data protection is about people's personal information.[82][83]
On 3 April 2009, it was reported in the press that residents of the village of Broughton in Buckinghamshire formed a human barrier to stop a Google car from photographing the village,[84] expressing fears that it was "invading [the villagers'] privacy" and "facilitating crime".[85] As also reported in the press, contrary reactions have come from some Internet users, who have called on people to "descend on the village to snap their own perfectly legal photographs".[86]
On 21 May 2009, Google Street's privacy issues got some attention in the tabloid press, after it was revealed that Google's facial recognition technology automatically blurred out the face of "The Colonel" on the shop signage of Kentucky Fried Chicken stores "to protect his privacy", despite the fact that Harland David "Colonel" Sanders, upon whose image "The Colonel" is based, died in 1980. A spokesperson for Google defended the decision as "it shows how good our facial recognition technology is"[87].
Germany
In an April 2009 interview for the magazine Focus Google's Global Privacy Counsel Peter Fleischer remarked that "public opposition to Google Street View in Germany, though not hysterical, had been tougher than in any other country."[88] On the same occasion he stated that the project has now been "essentially aligned with the concerns of data privacy advocates," and that "specific privacy tools would be developed for the German launch while imaging continues at the fastest possible pace." The option to have specific images removed would also apply for locations in Germany.
Greece
Google has been stopped from gathering images in Greek cities for its Street View service until it provides further guarantees about privacy.[89]
Australia
In 2007, Google pledged not to identify faces or number plates in Australia.[90] However, as of March 2009, it is still possible to view both.[91][92] Also, many major Australian cities were experiencing a heatwave during the time, so areas particularly along the cooler South Eastern coast line appear dry, washed out, and unattractive, portraying a bad image for the area which is well known within Australia as a tourist destination.
Japan
In Japan, Google Street View started in August 2008 and was made available for ten Japanese Prefectures in February 2009. The available Street View areas depicted residential and business areas, and showed the faces of pedestrians, displayed vehicle registration plates, and the name plate of a family residence (表札 Hyōsatsu) - Google's decision to show these has led to disputes. Local governments, lawyers and individuals claimed Google was violating privacy.[93] On 3 February 2009, Google Japan representatives attended a meeting about privacy concerns held at a Tokyo Metropolitan Government facility, and agreed that privacy issues had not been adequately considered. Google pledged that, before taking photographs for Street View, they would in future notify the provinces' local government. Google Japan admitted that notifications and explanations of this kind had already been taking place in countries other than Japan, but had not done so in Japan as they were not aware of the potential privacy concerns.[94]
On 13 May 2009, Google Japan announced that it would modify their cameras to scan from a lower height of 2.05 meters above ground level, 40 centimeters lower than the original height of the camera head. This reduced height is to apply immediately, and all areas previously visited will be rescanned from the reduced height. Scans taken at the original height will remain available until they are replaced with the new images. (It has been pointed out that this seems inconsistent.)
Hong Kong
Street View Car on Spring Garden Lane in Wan Chai, Hong Kong on June 29, 2009
Before the launch of Google Street View in Hong Kong, the Hong Kong Privacy Commissioner for Personal Data has taken the initiative to inquire into the Google Street View Project, to ensure that it complies with the provisions of the Personal Data (Privacy) Ordinance in Hong Kong and to consider privacy issues that may arise.
Google declares that the Project does not intend to compile information about specific individuals whose identities can be ascertained. Faces of passers-by and car licence plates in the photographs will be unidentifiable because blurring technology is to be used. Also, there will be at least a three month's gap between image gathering and publication, to prevent the images being used to identify an individual's current whereabouts.
Google also assures the Commissioner that if anyone objects to any image of themselves, their cars, houses or children captured by the cameras, the related image will be removed.
The commissioner concluded that Google Street View does not breach Hong Kong privacy laws. But he will look seriously into any complaint made by an affected individual in accordance with the Personal Data (Privacy) Ordinance.[95]
This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. Wikipedia contributors, "Google Street View," Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia, http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Google_Street_View&oldid=32401... (accessed November 5, 2009).
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Comments
Thanks for the laughs. Very
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