7 August 2008

Google Street View - Canberra on the map

| Widdershins
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Google has launched its Street View today, with plenty of coverage for Canberra. Haven’t found any pictures of people yet, which is where the controversy comes in, but it’s a bit addictive.

Google Street View

Google Street View

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ED – a pint for the funniest link any of you can find in the ACT.

The current leader is Sammy who found a bloke in need of a trailer at Hello Sexy.


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There is, however, a challenger. Mick has found this wedding in Queanbeyan:


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Wino found this one and offered up the caption “looking for a screw?”


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Aronde found cars playing chicken on Belconnen Way:


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Jonathan Reynolds found a warp drive on State Circle:


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P1 discovered a badly tied down load and wondered if a traffic infringement would be possible:


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Yep freaky mosiac it is.

Better take the blue pill

Jonathon Reynolds9:01 am 15 Sep 08

Can someone else confirm this street view is a freaky mosiac effect and not an effect of the firewall I’m going through please:

http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&geocode=&q=71+Northbourne+Avenue+Canberra+ACT+2600&ie=UTF8&t=h&layer=c&cbll=-35.276351,149.129407&panoid=8jtdlLBjchOjn0lsdRSsTA&cbp=1,112.7543000945941,,0,4.761612229366704&ll=-35.271884,149.13022&spn=0.009583,0.013819&z=16

Maybe the Google mapping car ran him over and they’ve deleted the image in an attempt cover their tracks!

BerraBoy68 said :

Its’s not Canberra but it’s teh funnies Street View pic I’ve seen yet!

http://maps.google.com.au/maps?f=q&hl=en&geocode=&q=lakes+entrance+vic&layer=c&ie=UTF8&t=h&cbll=-37.872301,147.997224&panoid=xeMAnlkGS5P4tmeQiNMQug&cbp=1,297.91082930150606,,0,24.801411195735827&ll=-37.868857,147.998264&spn=0.01201,0.019312&z=16

“This image is no longer available”

Obviously someone was happy being seen passed out on the nature strip!

Its’s not Canberra but it’s teh funnies Street View pic I’ve seen yet!

http://maps.google.com.au/maps?f=q&hl=en&geocode=&q=lakes+entrance+vic&layer=c&ie=UTF8&t=h&cbll=-37.872301,147.997224&panoid=xeMAnlkGS5P4tmeQiNMQug&cbp=1,297.91082930150606,,0,24.801411195735827&ll=-37.868857,147.998264&spn=0.01201,0.019312&z=16

johnboy said :

Reasonably rewarding zoom though: http://maps.google.com.au/maps?f=q&hl=en&geocode=&q=76+Bayldon+Road,+Queanbeyan&sll=-25.335448,135.745076&sspn=38.742832,56.601563&ie=UTF8&layer=c&cbll=-35.354275,149.201351&panoid=8DzdzLQS9R5znJNWpCL-Rw&cbp=1,317.5542889322904,,2,5&ll=-35.349961,149.202082&spn=0.013721,0.017595&t=h&z=16

johnboy said :

Reasonably rewarding zoom though: http://maps.google.com.au/maps?f=q&hl=en&geocode=&q=76+Bayldon+Road,+Queanbeyan&sll=-25.335448,135.745076&sspn=38.742832,56.601563&ie=UTF8&layer=c&cbll=-35.354275,149.201351&panoid=8DzdzLQS9R5znJNWpCL-Rw&cbp=1,317.5542889322904,,2,5&ll=-35.349961,149.202082&spn=0.013721,0.017595&t=h&z=16

Hmmm if you zoom out there’s an unregistered minibike riding on the road!

Yes, and yes.. I was quite chuffed to find it actually

Ingeegoodbee said :

So Sammy, you’re admittng that you have two identities here on RA?

sammy isn’t, but I am. I post under peterh when at work, and peter@home when at home. I don’t have a fictitious name made up, either way it is peter posting, but I can say what I really feel without fear of bluecoat censorship from home.

So Sammy, you’re admittng that you have two identities here on RA?

No, i’m not.

johnboy said :

Reasonably rewarding zoom though: http://maps.google.com.au/maps?f=q&hl=en&geocode=&q=76+Bayldon+Road,+Queanbeyan&sll=-25.335448,135.745076&sspn=38.742832,56.601563&ie=UTF8&layer=c&cbll=-35.354275,149.201351&panoid=8DzdzLQS9R5znJNWpCL-Rw&cbp=1,317.5542889322904,,2,5&ll=-35.349961,149.202082&spn=0.013721,0.017595&t=h&z=16

Hmmm if you zoom out there’s an unregistered minibike riding on the road!

I notice Dunrossil Drive, the main road up to the Governor-General’s pad in Yarralumla doesn’t have streetview on it.

So, the G-G’s allowed to have his privacy but not the rest of us?

Jamie Wheeler10:04 pm 06 Aug 08

Go to this link. Continue NW two frames on to see the woman pulling out of the Aldi’s carpark at Lanyon take the turn wide across the dotted line. Looks like she almost swiped the Google car and it had to veer left a bit to miss her:

http://maps.google.com.au/maps?f=q&hl=en&ie=UTF8&om=1&layer=c&ll=-35.455033,149.093807&spn=0.005078,0.01545&z=17&cbll=-35.457576,149.093329&panoid=aWcoeB9YFGaeeq5GGgps3g&cbp=2,348.0774695894095,,0,11.395529557998923

peterh probably just clicked on Sammy’s link with his “friend’s” address in it and went cruising from there.

Ingeegoodbee9:03 pm 06 Aug 08

So Sammy, you’re admittng that you have two identities here on RA?

+1 vote for the warp drive, that looks freaking awesome.

I wonder when the Guthridge Cr resident will realise

Actually, that was me, and I had searched for a friends house to email them the link and say: hey, here’s your house!. It’s embarrassing that I forgot to clear the query box before posting the link here, but it’s just an address, as all of Google Maps is just addresses. Here is one, and another.

Scoop! Every address that you can view on Google Maps likely has someone residing at it. Hard to believe, but true. Apologies if someone here actually resides at either of the two above addresses 🙂

Can you blame them?

Tedious job that it would have been.

The Street View driver certainly likes their fast food.

Or burying a body.

Bungendore has a glitch in the main street

A few too many at the Hotel?

Emu Bank in Belco is a bit weird. It goes through units –

http://maps.google.com.au/maps?q=20080730+kml&hl=en&safe=off&ie=UTF8&t=h&layer=c&cbll=-35.236232,149.069186&panoid=MZglToN7Mqrr3KI0w-qM6Q&cbp=1,94.12947715626973,,0,14.205521456871647&ll=-35.228163,149.068894&spn=0.020858,0.037422&z=15

where a few licence plate numbers are also visible if you spin around and go forward and back from the above link.

And the google car driver must have got hungry!

http://maps.google.com.au/maps?q=20080730+kml&hl=en&safe=off&ie=UTF8&t=h&layer=c&cbll=-35.236686,149.070322&panoid=Y9lc5fS-r75SMCzbng7Hbw&cbp=1,314.6161502025645,,0,6.326016019592549&ll=-35.228619,149.07001&spn=0.020858,0.037422&z=15

As it has already been pointed out, I wonder when the Guthridge Cr resident will realise that if they search for an address, then navigate from that house and go elsewhere, that the link they paste includes the address they searched for – even if the eventual location is different from the initial search.

johnboy said :

Well for some people a green magna parked in marjory’s driveway can be a life changing experience.

So, where do we find this Marjory?

Peterh
You have to remember the satellite overlay that you have used dates from 2006. The StreetView is much later so you get little aberrations like this.

Remember when we thought 136.9c for petrol was expensive?

caf said :

This view dates the StreetView visit to within a couple of weeks.

Not all of them.

Pictures of Tuggeranong look like they were taken during summer, and my house (at least) features several trees that haven’t been present for quite a while.

Clown Killer1:36 pm 06 Aug 08

I suspect that, with his last post, peterh may have revealed one of the ways thay this thing can reveal details that would otherwise have remained unknown…

Deano said :

Sammy & PeterH – Hopefully you haven’t encoded your home address in those urls you just posted.

nope. but just had a look at my house, the fence is old, so isn’t new image. Lucky for my wife, otherwise i would have to ask her about the strange car in the driveway – never seen that one before….

What is interesting is that Australia is well covered, but not the UK for example? I love canberra, but wouldn’t you expect London to get done first? At least the tourist bits?

Well for some people a green magna parked in marjory’s driveway can be a life changing experience.

Nothing that couldn’t get them in trouble before, but now automated and more public.

The tunnel warp drive photo is very cool. Reminds me of going home after a night out in my early twenties.

I don’t see the big deal with this. There is no more information available than people can already legally access by walking down the street in person. It’s no more up-to-date than when the photo was taken, so they can’t see who’s currently home. And it’s not connected to other personal information, like phone book listings, which means that people who don’t already know the occupants of an address aren’t getting any additional information from looking at the street view photo.

Ooooh creepy. Car belonging to a friend of mine is “simultaneously” at home and in our driveway…

Sammy said :

A phone box. I honestly didn’t think they still existed.

Hey yeah, there was one just here only a couple of years ago.

Either there is a correlation between the Google car travelling your street and bin night, or lots of people are slack and leave their bins out for a while.

Haha, what a lovely van.

Old tech meets new tech, Australia Post v. Google.

So that’s not your lime green van parked in the driveway?

Nah, i’m just clicking around randomly.

peterh said :

what about the implications from, say a stalker being able to see where you live? or a pedophile? not very good – this technology could be abused, big time.

watch out everyone! evil pedophiles with the the knowledge of where you live can now look at a photo of your house! panic!

Sammy & PeterH – Hopefully you haven’t encoded your home address in those urls you just posted.

A phone box. I honestly didn’t think they still existed.

Bugger Grandpa Sammy, I think you’ve found the ugliest house in the world.

Quick, quick, turn around grandpa! Note grandpas 45-degree-angle parking obsession as well (pan right).

Well, my area almost made it. The main drag is on. I wonder how they did it?

it took a picture of my little cousin while he was ridding his scooter, he is stopped out the front of his house and he is staring right at the car as it drives past. Was sooo funny when I first saw it haha.

Woody Mann-Caruso8:47 pm 05 Aug 08

what about the implications from, say a stalker being able to see where you live? or a pedophile?

Because pedophiles look for potential victims on Google Maps, and stalkers would much rather look at a blurry image of your house from several months ago than, say, actually stalk you in real life.

My dog’s fickle girlfriend is pictured leaving my place.

I hope his rivals aren’t logged in.

My neighbours kids are riding their bike!!!!!!

Bungendore must have been done in the three weeks prior to Christmas last year judging by landmarks.

…..well it’s better than the plumbers crack!

http://tinyurl.com/66m2tp

Linky

The efficiency dividend part of my brain got to thinking that as soon as I thought about ways to get this done, they should have done that for sure!

Deadmandrinking5:52 pm 05 Aug 08

Yeah, I read that, sorry.

I think we’ve established that different parts have been done at different times.

Deadmandrinking5:15 pm 05 Aug 08

johnboy said :

Wow, that’s my car. So they did the inner north in the last three weeks.

I don’t think so, Johnboy, I’ve lived in my house in the inner north for the last 6 months and I have never seen the people on my front lawn, or the cars in my life. I will double-check however.

tylersmayhem4:53 pm 05 Aug 08

Wow, my garbage bin is on there – AWESOME! Actually, it seems that the shots in my suburb and the surrounds all happened on the same bin collection day. At first my unrealistic brain got working and suspected that Google have attached cameras to garbage trucks, because they drive down all streets. the google car kinda ruined the conspiracy for me 😉

Wide Boy Jake said :

I can’t see how anybody’s privacy is being compromised. To get the same view all you need to do is drive past. Why is it permissable to do this in the US without controversy but in this country everybody gets uptight about it?

I don’t personally have any beef with it (until maybe the day my car gets snapped in a driveway I’d rather not have it seen in! — not currently an issue, I hasten to add). But as for Street View being used in the US ‘without controversy’, just go to the Google web search (or any other search engine) and punch in a few key terms such as ‘Google’ ‘Street View’ privacy ‘court case’ and see how many hits you get.

It’s a powerful tool, but it’s not universally loved.

Outside my driveway, the unbroken white line become a single white broken line.
Street View doesn’t show this. It shows the unbroken line all the way past our place and the neighbour’s.
Just an observation that their “Street View” doesn’t correlate to the reality I see every day when I get home.

Wide Boy Jake4:26 pm 05 Aug 08

I can’t see how anybody’s privacy is being compromised. To get the same view all you need to do is drive past. Why is it permissable to do this in the US without controversy but in this country everybody gets uptight about it?

woah, this is so cool!!
(srsly, for the last 5 or so minutes, i’ve been pretty much stalking my whole neighbourhood. ahem.)

i have a newspaper or something in my mailbox. That made me laugh 🙂

and wow, i manage to be at home, AND at work at the same time! HEHE!

Loquaciousness3:29 pm 05 Aug 08

Sammy said :

I’m astonished how far they went as well, travelling a long way along Brindabella road, and all around Burra.

Bungendore and Braidwood too …

L

If the Saudis were worried about development submissions giving line-of-sight into the building, how do you think they now feel about every man and his kelev now having both satellite and street views available immediately and for free?

I notice that some sections of Yarralumla are missing – particularly Perth in front of the USA embassy; Dunrossil Dr (to GG’s); and Forster Cres near AG’s Office(?).

It appears Google have employed their automatic face blurring software in Canberra, as one of the Lions outside Pretty Woman appear to want it’s anonymity.

Also see above, re: refuelling stop in Queanbeyan.

They’d better fix their coverage eventually…
Both for the fact that Tharwa bridge gets covered at both ends (but not the bridge itself currently as its closed), and that there are some strangely patchy spots (three house segments of road, almost entire suburbs missing, etc).

I see several possible origin points around the Southside, but one in Banks, Ozchick.

I was impressed with the coverage, but there do seem to be gaps (including my house). I wonder to what extent the gaps will be filled and when, or whether the photos have been taken and are still being processed…

This is an interesting quirk that someone found, a street view image in Erindale…

The camera was obviously still rolling…

http://www.gizmodo.com.au/2008/08/caption_contest_australian_streetview_edition.html

Has anyone noticed poor coverage anywhere? Curtin has approx. 7 streets covered… is there a reason?

I’m astonished how far they went as well, travelling a long way along Brindabella road, and all around Burra.

Meanwhile, big chunks of Watson, Curtin, Farrer and Richardson aren’t done. Wonder why?

You do know you can report inappropriate imagery on google maps by clicking the help button and then the report button.

But remember – Street View only contains imagery already visible from any public road and is not real-time! Therefore doesn’t affect any privacy constraints.

Also Google stated that faces and license plates won’t be visible.

Oh the trailer is just a cover, the dude must have told the Mrs that he was going to the “tip” but went to Hello Sexy instead…

Cameron said :

Madman – hope I didn’t come across as someone who was worried about any of this (especially my cat in the window!) 😉

I like it.

Don’t worry – you should be okay; until the google bot scrolls this thread – then you’re a goner!

Er… ruhappynow you need to click the “link” button to get the code for your updated location, you’ve given us the same one as Sammy had.

thats not a trailer at a adult shop, this guy’s got a truckload!

http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&geocode=&q=wollongong+street+fyshwick&sll=-35.323258,149.175206&sspn=0.011284,0.011244&layer=c&ie=UTF8&cbll=-35.322177,149.176124&panoid=77LV-WHb96h5pNfxbzM6ng&cbp=1,188.4950199502869,,0,14.053048800278114&ll=-35.313654,149.173393&spn=0.003432,0.004399&t=h&z=14&source=embed

Madman – hope I didn’t come across as someone who was worried about any of this (especially my cat in the window!) 😉

I like it.

Madman said :

Sammy said :

This street at the ANU is actually closed to traffic, so I guess the car drove down the footpath!

Hmmm… never know, they might have trolleys or something to use to map it… who knows!

I saw the vehicle going along Uni Ave, in Feb I think it was.

Tempestas said :

LMFAO
I can hear the banjo’s clearly with the Hummer. Big-Love comes to Queanbeyan – wonder where the compound is

Keeping sweet

Yours very truly
Alby Grant

Crawford St in Queanbeyan (just south of the Morrisett St intersection):
Looks like they needed a petrol break @ Woolworths, but apparently the Woolworths is now in the middle of the street.

Sammy said :

This street at the ANU is actually closed to traffic, so I guess the car drove down the footpath!

Hmmm… never know, they might have trolleys or something to use to map it… who knows!

LMFAO
I can hear the banjo’s clearly with the Hummer. Big-Love comes to Queanbeyan – wonder where the compound is

ROFL @ the 4wd wedding motorcade…

Sammy said :

This street at the ANU is actually closed to traffic, so I guess the car drove down the footpath!

Nah, ‘special people’ can drive along that stretch of University Ave.

I’m astonished how far they went as well, travelling a long way along Brindabella road, and all around Burra.

Macgregor was done in late June. The painter’s ute is out the front. I wonder how long it took. Whether the one person drove their car everywhere or there was a Google Squadron.

Someone was buying so much stuff at Hello Sexy that they needed a trailer.

Some views of the $750 000 metal “grass” sculpture on the GDE show it under construction and some show it complete.

Cameron… you better watch out for those terrorists – they know your cat likes sitting at the window inside the house!

I really don’t see how this is going to invade your privacy. Stop whinging people, “oh no, people are going to put in chartersiville street and be able to see the front of the houses… Or…. they could just get in there car and do the same thing”! probably get a clearer picture.

This street at the ANU is actually closed to traffic, so I guess the car drove down the footpath!

Madman said :

For all those interested in what the camera looks like.

Ooh, nifty. I want.

For all those interested in what the camera looks like.
http://gizmodo.com/assets/resources/2007/05/googmapscam.jpg

They’ve got me pulling out of my driveway. I gave way to the Google Car without realising it. Can’t see my plates, nor can you even come close to seeing who is in the car. You can see my cat sitting inside the house at the window though…

I suspect they’ve released this just after school holidays so a baseline of empty schools is achieved. (Take it down a road with a school on it, and from a distnce the carpark is full & there are kids outside, but as you get closer everyone disappears)

We also get lower-res public space images due to higher national provisions for privacy than the US, and there’s extra special blurring for people’s faces.

When the street view vehicle came past my place at the beginning of the year, there was no indication on the vehicle that it was anything to do with Google. It screamed into the street, stopped at the end of the place for a second or so, and then took off. It had a rotating camera ball mounted on a pole on the roof.

My work colleague has seen the car with Google on the side of it on the Southside quite a few times. She says it that it is a possibility that the owner of the car lives near Conder.

The area of Ngunnawal I just checked has photos from pre-March.
But considering Google Maps is yet to realise the GDE’s open, that’s not all so surprising.

Combine this with Allhomes exterior shots and you get an idea of wether or not people are quickly polishing turds pre-sale. 🙂

Gungahlin Al11:39 am 05 Aug 08

I can date them shooting my house as early January from the stage of construction. On ads – they have fuzzed out the builder’s sign on the surrounding fence – no freebies from Google for them!

Why would you worry about your rego being seen….

It’s publicly displayed on your car – it’s not like you have to hide it with your private parts….

Yeah but it you can show people where they’re meant to be going it gives them more confidence about going to new places.

johnboy said :

Personally I think it’s going to be brilliant for promoting events.

And if you’re advertising your number on the back of your car why are you worried about it being on the internet?

Because I only put it on the back of the car to sell it, I dont drive around all the time with my mobile number on the back of may car, now it is sold, no need for my number to be advertised anymore.

johnboy said :

Personally I think it’s going to be brilliant for promoting events.

I wonder how often they will be updating the images though?

Personally I think it’s going to be brilliant for promoting events.

And if you’re advertising your number on the back of your car why are you worried about it being on the internet?

> what about the implications from, say a stalker being able to see where you live?

Meh..so they can see a still shot of the front of your place taken some months ago, big deal.

These drivebys are daytime-only events, or night-time?

Either way, I suspect there may be a few people concerned about their car rego, or faces being shown.
IE: Those wonderful people above Timberland, others who frequent the Mimi Club, Kambah Pool, etc.

what about the implications from, say a stalker being able to see where you live? or a pedophile? not very good – this technology could be abused, big time.

Yeah my suburb was taken more than 3 months ago, my old car with my mobile number is on the back. Thank goodness for the not so clear images!

niftydog said :

Simultaneously fascinating and creepy – just like me!

Indeed. I can’t wait to show my fiancee. She didn’t like it when you could see a low res image of the top of a house and the backyard using Google Earth.

Still, I’m not sure we really have privacy in public. There is something unsettling about it all though.

Igor, more power, I need MORE POWER. It’s ALIVE! It’s ALIVE. Bwahahahahahaa!

Whoah, this is way intrusive… but interesting…

Threeze, there is a way to report inappropriate images (click on Street View help link at the top of an image window). It does have a category specifically for car rego (also for faces and houses).

johnboy said :

So they did the inner north in the last three weeks.

Not for me – the shot of my place is definitely at least six months old.

I don’t think I like people being able to see my car and rego, or the fact that I am the only house in my street without a garden.

Wow, that’s my car. So they did the inner north in the last three weeks.

Woody Mann-Caruso10:36 am 05 Aug 08

*stupid backward department no adobe flash 9 grumble*

Simultaneously fascinating and creepy – just like me!

There -are- people, mostly relaxing in the cafes (Anketell St in Greenway, or Franklin & Flinders Sts in Manuka), but faces are such low-res as to be unidentifiable.

The shots are old for some areas.
Some developing buildings are either foundations or the old buildings, the extension my neighbour started maybe six months ago is still just unspoiled earth in his front yard, Glenloch Interchange isn’t complete…

And there’s a -very- distinct change of seasons as you come across the Commonwealth Bridge, too.

This view dates the StreetView visit to within a couple of weeks.

Bah, more evidence I need to move out of the dump i’m in – it’s not covered! 🙁

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