Google Street View hits UK streets

Late yesterday, Google launched novelty snoop service Street View in the UK, offering views of, er, streets. At launch, 17 English cities, four Scottish cities, two Welsh cities, and one in Northern Ireland are available for exploration. Up to a point anyway; typically only major thoroughfares in city centres are covered, …

[Andrew Moore]

They're invading Ireland too...

Apparently they hit Dublin, Cork and Galway this week

[Anonymous Coward]

Nabbed another spymobile in Europe ...

Speaking of StreetView, I caught a Google SpyMobile red-handed last Monday in Enschede, the Netherlands, its furtive driver splitting attention between a laptop, the dashboard and the road ...

[Ian Stephenson]

indentifiable?

Is that identify with a hammer?

Mines the one with the hood up and dark glasses

[Aortic Aneurysm]

Cannot acces it...

Oh well... would have been good to see. But I'm unable to get access :(

[Anonymous Coward]

title

Would've thought you guys wouldn've had it for ages - us Australians got it a while ago, it's pretty much our entire country.

[Seanmon]

Glasgow confirmed.

Spotted one coming back from East Kilbride the other day. I wouldn't film East Kilbride either though, TBH.

[Steve]

Just looked in Parliament Square...

You can see Brian Haw and some bloke next to him but Bush's face has been blurred on a placard.

[Parax]

Yay its me...

I found me taking a piccy of google car...I'm blurred and so is my back in another image.. now to refer to the other images and to find other Reg readers snapping the gcar..

[Colin Miller]

Only major roads?

This is Aston Lane, Glasgow. Clearly part of the M8.

http://maps.google.co.uk/?geocode=FUyTVAMdhn2-_w&split=0&sll=53.800651,-4.064941&sspn=6.881357,14.941406&ll=55.875792,-4.291105&spn=0.010762,0.034719&z=15&iwloc=addr&layer=c&bll=55.874637,-4.293066&panoid=Xm3XttHT-h5RSkQ3efp_vA&cbp=12,207.50232481542253,,0,5

[Anonymous Coward]

Wrong Turn...

Having a nose at vulture central glasshouse street is a bit odd... looks like the gcar went up brewer street but the image is placed on glass house... bizzare we know the car definatly went down glasshouse as el reg snapped it entering picadilly yet theres no images...

[Keiran]

Ermm, is it actually on?

I've just tried to find some street view for Newcastle and I can't find any evidence of it...anyone had any luck?

[Rob Beard]

Patchy coverage of Narrage

I'd say the coverage of Norwich is pretty patchy but all in all it was quite interesting having a look around some of the places I used to live (Derby, Sheffield and Norwich). It at least gave me a good half an hour's amusement.

Rob

[Syd]

Only major thoroughfares in city centres?

Appears to be a bit more than that in York - I can see streets well outside the city center - including the Victorian terrace cul-de-sac where an old friend lives, which is over a mile from what our American cousins would call downtown.

[Matt White]

Couple of guys getting nicked in Camden?

http://maps.google.co.uk/maps?f=q&source=s_q&hl=en&geocode=&q=camden+high+street&sll=51.539022,-0.139282&sspn=0.002429,0.013808&ie=UTF8&cd=1&ll=51.539529,-0.141749&spn=0.009716,0.055232&z=15&iwloc=addr&layer=c&cbll=51.539628,-0.141733&panoid=j9S38heNbgn4gV4a99BBZA&cbp=12,344.1995688971409,,0,0.05244755244754902

[David]

"only major thoroughfares in city centres are covered"

Not true for Glasgow, anyway: I live in a suburban cul-de-sac of 16 houses which is fully covered on Street View. Looks like I was out when they visited...

[Alan Gauton]

Goes beyond the cities

More than the cities - they've done some smaller places, like Forfar, and Peterhead amongst others.

[General A. Annoying]

I spy...

a massive timewasting fest ahead!!

[Matt White]

Easy to find covered streets.

If you put it onto split screen for Street View and Map, you can drag the little yellow man around and it'll highlight which streets have images.

[robert]

am I being dumb?

Whats the link to get street view to show?

[Anonymous Coward]

It missed me

I was in Leeds a while ago and one of the cars drove past me as I was crossing the road near the station. Looking at the pictures from there I'm not on the picture so I must have a stealth facility. That's kind of nifty.

[nae]

A title is required.

saw a google car in the wilds outside the back of falkirk this week

[Anonymous Coward]

It's messed up...

Berkeley street in Mayfair, where it meets Stratton street... not!

http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&ie=UTF8&om=1&layer=c&ll=51.507667,-0.144056&spn=0,359.990473&z=17&cbll=51.508241,-0.143325&panoid=WXaum6p-ynYbqSJUQ4uT2Q&cbp=12,270.53657098301693,,0,7.635135135135134

[Mike Westmacott]

Arghh! The tossers have got a picture of me!

Standing on my kitchen sink doing, well, something... most likely cleaning the windows...

Face not visible, but I'm the only one in my house who does that* and I can easily identify my shabby clothes...

I shan't be advertising where it is as I can't stand StreetView and by asking lots of people to look at this would undermine any attempt to get all images of my house removed.

Now, who else has spotted themselves?!

[Andrew Kelly]

Have you seen anyone acting suspiciously?

A colleague at work had a knock on his door about 5 minutes after this picture was taken. The guys loading the lawnmomers on the van asked him if he had seen anyone acting suspiciously as their lawnmowers had just been knicked.

http://maps.google.co.uk/maps?f=q&source=s_q&hl=en&geocode=&q=n14+7al&sll=51.597161,-0.110314&sspn=0.006691,0.021887&ie=UTF8&ll=51.621574,-0.134089&spn=0,359.978113&z=16&layer=c&cbll=51.621651,-0.134245&panoid=vRECveVAEFJrPVz2mXYbyw&cbp=12,156.18582320520653,,0,9.941176470588235

[DR]

dear oh dear

I've now started wasting time virtually wandering the streets that I actually live in.

[Anonymous Coward]

"only major thoroughfares"?

"typically only major thoroughfares in city centres are covered, except in London."

I'm not so sure about that: I live down a cul-de-sac on the edge of Birmingham, and our road (and all the other minor residential streets around us) are photo'd up.

[Nick]

Booo

Thats no good, noone I know is covered by the camera's - we've all fallen outside the scope of the evil eye o google. Perhaps it will be coming later in the year, I've seen several of the advanced invasion vehicles doing reconnaissance round by 'ere.

[RichyS]

Just checked out my street

And it's on there. Unfortunately somebody parked a crappy old Volvo outside my house when the Googmobile went by -- hope no-one thinks it's mine. And you can see a postman, so it must have been late in the afternoon.

[chris britton]

Weymouth

The google street view camera was in Weymouth last Friday.

[Danny Horsfall]

They got my car

It would appear my car has been snapped outside my house, reg blurred though good job!

[Anonymous Coward]

Smoker-watch

Very handy for catching the smokers outside your office - I'd recognise that coat anywhere.

Lot of Liverpool City Centre missing though.

[Anonymous Coward]

Brewe Streev1

Rotate 180 degrees and look at the stret name sign on the wall of the Warick. Are google renaming the streets

[Anonymous Coward]

Who has been a naughty neighbour then

Was just having a look at my house and noticed my neighbours front door was open and what appears to be a half naked man having a smoke. The face bluring does an ok job on the picture taken outside the house but go a bit further down the road and can zoom in and clearly make out its not the guy who lives there. His wifes car is parked outside though so looks like she is home...

[Anonymous Coward]

Hmmmm - My house

Well my house is on it.

[david bates]

One in Cheshire

Saw one on Saturday at the end of Prince Albert Street.

I sahll be interested to see if Im on it...

[Anonymous Coward]

OMIGOD WHAT HAPPENED TO MY LEGS I CAN'T FEEL MY LEGS

AND MINE JUST GOT HIDEOUSLY ELONGATED!

Tragic accident at

http://maps.google.co.uk/?ie=UTF8&ll=52.197178,0.147221&spn=0,359.973822&t=h&z=16&layer=c&cbll=52.197173,0.147358&panoid=6YkO2k0LAPv6-OWX3jbM-w&cbp=12,351.44711677243276,,0,49.815573770491724

rofl!

[MaFt]

Bradford Too

Bradford and Shipley are covered too - but I guess you've bundled that in with Leeds?

[Anonymous Coward]

Visible faces and number plates

Just checked my own street, as one does.

In it, I found :-

- my car, with numberplate partially legible

- a neighbour's car, with numberplate clearly legible

- the neighbour himself, with face clear and unblurred

The 'automatic' blurring clearly isn't working, and somebody just isn't doing their job. They've obviously just stuck it all up onto the web and waited for us all to complain.

I've sent three complaints to them, and, considering ours is a private street (maintained by a residents' association and not by the local council), I'm now thinking of taking advice as to whether Google have the right to take pictures of it at all.

[Anonymous Coward]

partialview

They definitely do seem to be selective. Take a look at Santa Monica in LA. At the junction of Wilshire Blvd and Ocean Ave you can't see anything of the Fairmont Hotel, the same image repeats all along the road. Money talks...

[Anonymous Coward]

yours hopefully

I just found myself walking along a road in gOgle Steetview. Do I win a prize?

[Anonymous Coward]

Strange Phenomonen..

I have three street view presences.. can you beat three?

I have found my car at work and at home and also on another street..

they crept past my house very early one morning.. all the curtains in the street are drawn..

[Dave Jones]

Typical Brit effort

Looking at the StreetView of some of my old stomping grounds in York and London, it's pretty obvious that thoroughness was not on the agenda. Whole sections of streets are missing, as if the spymobilers decided they couldn't be arsed, and it was nearly opening time anyway.

Mines the one with 20 Woodbines in the pocket.

[andy gibson]

The inbred hicks....

of Sheffield are already whinging about it. Check out the comments such as "stalkers tool" at:

http://www.sheffieldforum.co.uk/showthread.php?t=467009

[Anonymous Coward]

Where's Wally?

You haven't picked up on the Wally hidden somewhere in the UK! I propose a pint to whoever finds it.

[pica]

Weird

The seem to have not done the middle of the new town in Edinburgh for some reason but they have done places like my street (witch is hardly a major thoroughfare (being a dead end off another quiet street).

[Neil]

Wow.

I live many miles outside Central London - basically on the surrey border, on a small insignificant little road. And found myself staring at my front door.

[Anonymous Coward]

Interesting face-blurring

It seems an awfully large number of road-signs are getting the face blur too.

Not that face-blurring stops you from recognising someone by their arse. Some dundonian women are quite distinctive that way.

[Patrick]

Missed Worgan Street in Vauxhall

They've missed Worgan St, in Vauxhall SE11. I wonder how many other streets were missed?

[Anonymous Coward]

Oh no! Non-blurred faces!

I demand that people looking at my face in public blur it out. Think of the privacy!

For a country with leaders who are criminalizing cartoons and advocating the arrest of people based on private thoughts, you'd think you'd have better things to do than foam at the mouth about a mapping service.

[mark]

And the first Streetview victim is...

in Shoreditch. Natch.

http://tinyurl.com/c4b72m

[Neil]

No joy in Soho

Looks like they covered it early on a (wet) Sunday morning, so no sign of any furtive businessmen emerging out of sex-shops or from doorways with "Model Upstairs" signs.

[Tom Chiverton]

They still need to update the road layouts though

Street through building, one of many in the area:

http://maps.google.com/maps/ms?ie=UTF8&hl=en&t=h&layer=c&cbll=53.479956,-2.252726&panoid=wSaPqA4KGWgQ-I6EO3Mr0w&cbp=12,191.8760276421221,,0,-11.236781958213605&msa=0&msid=106521498528987985180.0004358594448afcafae8&ll=53.480055,-2.252685&spn=0,359.999171&z=20

[Tim Hines]

There's Wally

That wasn't as hard as I thought it might be!

http://tinyurl.com/dk2gof

Full version:

http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&source=s_q&hl=en&geocode=&q=putney,+uk&sll=37.331663,-122.03035&sspn=45.488111,64.160156&ie=UTF8&ll=51.46386,-0.215499&spn=0.00881,0.015664&t=h&z=16&layer=c&cbll=51.463944,-0.215446&panoid=aTUlkjN4ZDh_2sWaOxjDPg&cbp=12,108.92165653818441,,1,18.931506849315052

[Joshua Murray]

Yay! It got me!

http://maps.google.co.uk/maps?hl=en&safe=active&ie=UTF8&ll=53.380769,-1.468735&spn=0,359.961891&t=h&z=15&layer=c&cbll=53.378464,-1.465239&panoid=s3CGJ5HO8f241t0DZBCKlA&cbp=12,222.0133923867685,,3,3.257509048840585

:)

[Anonymous Coward]

@ Matt White - Police Not Blurred - thats a crime..

Couple of guys getting nicked in Camden?

http://maps.google.co.uk/maps?f=q&source=s_q&hl=en&geocode=&q=camden+high+street&sll=51.539022,-0.139282&sspn=0.002429,0.013808&ie=UTF8&cd=1&layer=c&cbll=51.539628,-0.141733&panoid=j9S38heNbgn4gV4a99BBZA&cbp=12,344.4151460525872,,1,0.08286721908540807&ll=51.549591,-0.133595&spn=0,359.94524&z=15&iwloc=addr

Maybe but them there coppers is not blurred - isn't that a crime now??

[Anonymous Coward]

Oh hello thar!

Vulture Central looks surprisingly classy. >_>

[Gianni Straniero]

@Matt White

Nope. Those are four plod: two uniform, two plainclothes. Just look at their shoes!

The guys getting nicked are on the other side of the road:

http://maps.google.co.uk/maps?f=q&source=s_q&hl=en&geocode=&q=camden+high+street&sll=51.539022,-0.139282&sspn=0.002429,0.013808&ie=UTF8&cd=1&layer=c&cbll=51.539628,-0.141733&panoid=j9S38heNbgn4gV4a99BBZA&cbp=12,130.46850867478022,,1,14.397094403440473&ll=51.539529,-0.141749&spn=0.022288,0.052357&t=h&z=15&iwloc=addr

[Mike Hanna]

"Couple of guys getting nicked in Camden?"

Nice to see the police are left un-fuzzed but the potential crim is blurred so we don't know who it is

[Anonymous Coward]

Yahhh

Thanks Google - just looked at my house and I can see the front door needs painting.

Also, do I get a lollipop - found my car in three different places!!

[Gavin]

re: Berkeley Street

Image for stratton street is wrong as well, never looked anything like that when i worked there, missing the mayfair hotel for starters

[Anonymous Coward]

PWNED in Northamptonshire!!!

They must be getting desperate, came home form work yesterday afto and found aforementioned black astra with the old telescope thingy in my cul-de-sac.

He looked decidedly nervous when I gave the traditional Corby welcome to his camera via 2 fingers (I hasten to add I'm not from Corby itself, suvverner me) and I actually reside in Great Oakley don't you know, the posh part of town :o

[Tony]

@AC

'Would've thought you guys wouldn've had it for ages - us Australians got it a while ago, it's pretty much our entire country'

I presume you mean the 2% of the country that is inhabited and not the other 98% containing nothing but sheep and assorted venomous wildlife?

[Anonymous Coward]

Google Streetview and Nostalgia

I've used GSV extensively to have a gander at the area I grew up in (a suburb of Washington DC). It's been nearly 30 years since I was last there, so I was naturally curious what the old stompin' grounds look like now. I imagine everyone else who lives far from the situs of their upbringing will meander down the same path and experience the same sense of dislocation, so here's an advance warning: you will be shocked.

In my own case, the area has undergone a profound demographic change for the poorer, and everything now looks shabby and ill-maintained. Buildings I remember as landmarks have been demolished, but nothing put in their place. Formerly undeveloped areas have been overwhelmed by urban sprawl, and trees have been removed by road widening and development both.

The old motto is true: you can't go home again.

You have been warned.

[Matt Finish]

UFO over Cambridge

Up in the sky, a triangular object. The other year, top secret South African attack helicopters flew into Cambridge for modifications. The local paper kindly printed photos of them for us.

Maybe this is another secret mod job caught in the act.

http://maps.google.co.uk/maps?f=q&source=s_q&hl=en&geocode=&q=cb1+3sw&sll=55.853637,-4.301147&sspn=0.006082,0.013561&ie=UTF8&ll=52.189194,0.149839&spn=0.006341,0.013561&t=h&z=16&iwloc=addr&layer=c&cbll=52.187873,0.149477&panoid=BzaTlj0Y-GaeGnww1VwP_w&cbp=12,184.8663440602639,,0,-19.351265822784814

Made tiny

http://tinyurl.com/cj9zs4

[MrT]

Blurring only partly works...

MrsT's Pug 206 on driveway - numberplate clear as day. It seems they only blur out 'transient' vehicles' plates, such as our friend's Zafira's plates parked on roadside - maybe they think all cars on driveways are property of the house owners, so there's little point blurring them. Anyone else have visitors park on their drive to save clogging the road outside? Thought so - scratch another excuse for a botched 'privacy' system - after all, their system has managed to blur out the street name signs nearby in the same shot, which is what folk probably use to find it in the first place.

Can't be bothered pasting the link - it'll not be the only botch...

[MrT]

James Bond's stealth camouflage has slipped...

http://maps.google.co.uk/maps?f=q&source=s_q&hl=en&geocode=&q=vauxhall+bridge+london&sll=52.150344,-2.054443&sspn=0.406992,0.977783&ie=UTF8&ll=51.486294,-0.123296&spn=0,359.992372&t=h&z=17&layer=c&cbll=51.486378,-0.123472&panoid=1dgPikZ9ZnmuLTNoZS5r9w&cbp=12,313.7656010206571,,0,10.569620253164535

I know - he's switched to a Maserati as well... there must be a secret cloaked entrance to SIS/MI6 nearby - some of the adaptive invisibility has slipped from the front of the car too...

See what a waste of time this is becoming!!!

[Anonymous Coward]

The good news

.. is that reporting a 'concern' to Google WILL currently result in the offending image being removed entirely.

Whether this will be permanent, or whether the image will be reinstated with the offending portions properly blurred out, we can't tell yet. I strongly suspect they're getting so many complaints at the moment that there isn't time to manually correct and replace the images.

[Niall Wallace]

Crap Coverage

Somehow they have missed the 2 more affluent areas of Dundee Broughty Ferry and Invergowrie but managed to go right out into the depths of Angus and collect Montrose, Brechin, Forfar, Kirrie and Arbraoth.

I have so far found them committing at least 3 traffic offences against "No Motor vehicle" sings, for clarity that is the one of Eddie Kid, doing a boring 1 car jump.

Their face removal system seems to work, here we see Oliver Cromwell defaced

http://local.google.co.uk/maps?f=q&source=s_q&hl=en&geocode=&ie=UTF8&layer=xc&g=Hazelfield+Street.+Belfast.&ll=54.605166,-5.942241&spn=0.001846,0.013733&z=17&lci=com.panoramio.all&cbll=54.605167,-5.942238&panoid=8MaZWA0V3I_KKVdzKu-IPg&cbp=11,97.31874535213078,,0,-5.476562500000004

Some bus drivers I know have managed to spot various colleagues either on fag breaks, shift swaps or driving.

No such anonymisation here:

http://local.google.co.uk/?ie=UTF8&layer=c&cbll=56.46369,-2.965365&panoid=2LMF0h1X4DtkFK6jbQZmgA&cbp=12,184.34012021523426,,1,3.5047468354430786&ll=56.463581,-2.965279&spn=0,359.89151&z=14

And for balance Bobby Sands appears to be blocked, and anonymised when viewing from the Falls road.

http://local.google.co.uk/maps?f=q&source=s_q&hl=en&geocode=&q=falls+road.+Belfast.&sll=54.605961,-5.940771&sspn=0.001846,0.013733&ie=UTF8&ll=54.5981,-5.952423&spn=0.008229,0.027466&z=16&lci=com.panoramio.all&layer=c&cbll=54.598014,-5.952545&panoid=bmcwdgkjGsRFBAP-LlPaLw&cbp=12,263.3087210559338,,0,-0.27343750000000205

But perfectly visible here

http://local.google.co.uk/maps?f=q&source=s_q&hl=en&geocode=&q=falls+road.+Belfast.&sll=54.605961,-5.940771&sspn=0.001846,0.013733&ie=UTF8&ll=54.598087,-5.953045&spn=0.008229,0.027466&z=16&lci=com.panoramio.all&layer=c&cbll=54.59803,-5.952944&panoid=Ok0DAN-dJNgDMb8m4hZLIQ&cbp=12,196.17370180982982,,0,-14.406250000000004

Dundee is too boring to bother with pictures of.

[Dave Bloggs]

Sightings Website

Looks like someone's made a compilation site of all the funny stuff in the UK already!

http://www.streetviewsightings.co.uk/

[Anonymous Coward]

If I'd known they were coming...

I would have tidied the front garden...

[Anonymous Coward]

Blurred faces ..

Have a few more drinks and the faces will blur nicely. Always works form me.

[Allan Dyer]

The Knowledge

@AC: "It's messed up... Berkeley street in Mayfair, where it meets Stratton street... not!"

Nah, it's a time-space anomaly. If you move around, you can see a taxi navigating through it. There's a reason why cabbies study so hard.

Icon: well, it's black

[Anonymous Coward]

waaa...waaa...

someone saw me out in public!

why do peopel complain so much about street view, i'd understand it if they were in there house, but people are moaning about there face being viewable while they walk around outside, should i have my eyes closed at all times outside in case i offend someones "right" to privacy in a PUBLIC place

[Mr Larrington]

Fail

Their automagical blurring SCIENCE has taken umbrage over the sign on my back gate, which now reads "NO PA". It's also blurred out the council logo on next door's wheelie bin.

[ChrB]

OMG they are here too!

Spotted the first in Zurich. Parked at the court of justice - maybe sitting inside in the dock...

[mittfh]

Facial blurring technology in action...

...blurring a traffic light in Coventry!

http://is.gd/oaKy

[Graham]

oh the ideas...

Does anybody know if there's a way of finding out when they're going to hit somewhere?

I can't help think Lincoln is a likely soon target and I'm just brimming with ideas for its arrival. Maybe something involving a large CENSORED banner or "404".

Or do you have to organise an entire parade before they'll tell you?:

http://www.streetwithaview.com/index.html

[steogede]

Re: Err, hold on.

>> This be my neighbourhood. Anyone care to remind me what the signs on either side of the road mean?

Yes, they mean 'No motor vehicles - except for access'. Why do you ask?

[steogede]

Re: There's Wally

That guy must have been stalking Google cars for weeks, wearing that daft outfit - unless he works for Google or had some other way of finding out where they were going to be.

[Anonymous Coward]

Wally goes to putney

The guy dressed as wally works for google, they hinted that there'll be a "well know childrens charachter" hidden amongst the U.Ks street a couple of months back when they first said about street view coming to U.K. And, I live in putney, down the road from where he was :), I have a wierd urge to go round bragging that Wally was in my town :)

[Dave Jones]

PedestrianPrecinctView?

In the fair and ancient city of York, StreetView came up against a one-way system that has flummoxed the best of us. Small wonder, then, that the trail goes cold halfway down some streets, or in one case does a funny kind of U-turn after turning onto a side street (Blake St. off Museum St. if you care).

I wouldn't be surprised if that camera rig had trouble with some of the old stone arches as well.

Funny though, two streets in York which have been pedestrianized forever have excellent coverage: Stonegate and the Shambles. So how the heck did they get those pix? The spymobile (quick while there's nobody about!) or some kind of handcart?