Google Street View: first look

Ever since Google deployed a team of cars to photograph Britain's cities, we have been waiting for the day Street View would launch in the UK.

Street View first arrived in the US nearly two years ago but, before it could launch here, Google had to assure the UK's Information Commissioner's Office that the service didn't risk the privacy or safety of individuals.

The service finally made its debut late last night, hours before Microsoft released the Internet Explorer 8: final version. A coincidence, surely?

Astute Google watchers first spotted the search giant's cars traversing UK city streets during the summer of 2008.

Google would not confirm how many cars it used, but said it was more than one and less than 10. These cars, with cameras mounted on top, clocked 22,269 miles, nearly three times the equatorial diameter of the earth.



First impressions? Street View is a joy to use and puts you in the street.

To launch Street View, drag the little yellow peg man from under the directional toggle and place it on the map. Areas highlighted in blue show where Street View is available.

Just as if you were walking around central Edinburgh or London, Google's service lets you take in a 360-degree street level-imagery.

Using the mouse, you can look up and down a street, in front and behind you.

A little map inset in Street View shows you where you are in relation to surrounding areas. To move along the street, click on the directional arrows which will move you further up or down the street you are on.

Privacy issues
So Google gets full marks for ease of use, but what about privacy issues? Google has employed facial recognition technology to blur faces so that anyone randomly snapped by the cars has their face blurred in Street View.

Likewise, car licence plates have also been blurred and Google has taken steps for anyone who finds inappropriate images to flag them and report them to Google.

Like people all over Britain this morning, Web User has been checking out Street View to see whether our homes and workplaces have been captured.

Admittedly, it's a little jarring to be able to look at your house from the street on a computer, knowing that the Google car passed right alongside where you live.

Two other features worth noting are user pictures and the ability to link and embed Street View images.

When viewing attractions like London Eye or the Corn Exchange in Leeds, a little photo icon will appear. Clicking on this will pull up similar photos taken from the web of the same view.

Also, if you want to share your search, whether it's your house or a local pub, click on the link button on the top right of the page. From here you can email a link or grab the embed code and put in on your blog or website.

Street View is another great addition to Google's mapping service and it will improve as more UK locations are put online.

As long as Google continues to satisfy privacy concerns, there is no doubt that the latest service will win over millions of fans.

The full list of UK cities where Street View is available: London, Edinburgh,Leeds, Bradford, Cambridge,Cardiff, Belfast, Birmingham, Manchester, Oxford, Liverpool,Sheffield, Nottingham, Derby, Bristol, Coventry, Glasgow, Aberdeen, Swansea, York, Dundee, Southampton, Norwich, Scunthorpe.

http://maps.google.co.uk