The new Google service offers 360-degree images of locations as seen from the ground, instead of the usual overhead satellite image and matching map. So far, it covers parts of five metropolitan areas — San Francisco, New York, Las Vegas, Denver and Miami.
How’d Google get the images in the first place? In San Francisco, Google staffers drove vans around town for the past year snapping pictures, CNET said. In the others, Google formed a partnership with a company called Immersive Media to do something similar. The images, taken with a 11-lens camera — are static, not real-time webcams. It is not clear how often they will be updated.
Even so, privacy concerns are starting to spread like wildfire. The Drudge Report, that early-warning system for democracy, is now using a screencap of someone peering out of a living room window as his top image. If that didn’t scare you, the banner headline might: SMILE, YOU’RE ON GOOGLE EARTH!"
Although it seems like a cool feature, what's the main purpose of it? Seems a bit excessive and even Matt Drudge thinks it invades on privacy. What would people really use this for other than vacation planning? Plus the level of detail is rather outrageous. Would it affect national security if it was in the wrong hands? Google, sometimes you are too smart for ever yourselves.
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