Google indoor Streetview images go live

Google's cameras on sticks will be peering inside buildings starting from now as they start to incorporate the inside of shops and commercial properties onto Google Streetview. Business Photos by Google are accepting applications from shops and businesses from today. Restaurants, gyms and shops from around the world can apply …

[Anonymous Coward]

Reg Sunset Tours

So I take it we can expect to have a wonderfully exciting Google powered virtual tour around the offices of El Reg?

A vulture eye view perhaps? (See icon)

[Anonymous Coward]

or

the local sex shop!

[dotdavid]

Or better still...

...Playmobil!

[Anonymous Coward]

Finally...

...the PERFECT way to "case a joint" in preparation for a robbery. Sure is going to make life a lot easier for some folks.

And the time saved NOT having to personally go to these shops to check out the floor plans, will help to increase the number of shops one can burglarize.

THANKS GOOGLE!!

[Marvin the Martian]

Next season's looters agree.

[Anonymous Coward]

Yeah

Cos they couldn't just go in the shop before to case it could they?

Oh, and it's "burgle", not "burglarize" you American types! You unneccesarilly shorten a load of words, then unneccesarilly extendificationalize others. Do you have "burglers" or "burglarizers"?

[Dick Emery]

How long before the first mistakes creep in and we get a view into peoples homes?

[Anonymous Coward]

Quite a long time given that they would have to let a photographer take 360 degree pictures of the inside of their homes. Not to mention that the photographer would have to be quite short sighted not to be able to tell the difference between a home and a business. Maybe if said photographer was on his way to a small furniture store?

[Anonymous Coward]

I came in here and was thinking of doing an absurd parody of hand-wringing technophobes, but VW - er, AudiGuy and Cam2A beat me to it. Except they exaggerated my planned parody, and apparently were even serious!

Please, Audi and Cam - tell me I got trolled. Say I was a fool and should have known. I'll trade a little less respect for myself for a bit more hope for the world.

[Anonymous Coward]

@David W.

Unless you meant the guy I replied to (Dick Emery) then I have no idea to what you are referring as my post and AudiGuys post have nothing in common.

My post and your post have more in common.

[Anonymous Coward]

@Cam2a

Oops - you're right, of course. My bad!

Perhaps thinking of the illustrious Volkswagen interior redesign service made me think of cars, and that made me think of engines, and that made me think of valves, and that made me thi....

...ooooor, maybe I was just careless.

[OutwithReality]

Just the Jobs for Seeing in Store?

I can't wait to peruse the Apple Stores of the world!

[Anonymous Coward]

well...

...the great part about doing Apple stores is that they'd just have to do one, and the rest is ctrl-v, ctrl-v, ctrl-v, ctrl-v...

[someone up north]

a new line of bussiness

SO NOW A THIEF can look inside your house before doing the robbery ,

very good , it means the robber is less likely to knock down my MING vases on the way in !

does Google get a share of the loot

[TimChuma]

I worked on a similar project in 1997

Was for the local university that I attended, we had to take the photos manually, process them into a panorama and put the hotspots in via HTML. I still have it on CD somewhere. At the time it was a lot of photos to deal with but I can now take that many in a few hours if it involves girls taking their clothes off for entertainment purposes (also know as burlesque.)

[Anonymous Coward]

This might make sense in a very few cases

I could see this making sense for someplace like Bass Pro in Springfield, MO, or The Mall Of The Americas, or a museum. But one of the first ones I saw was a comics shop near the Google HQ - it was about 4 pictures, down one aisle of the store.

[andro]

high up and high res

My area in Australia has recently been updated. The resolution is far higher than the first time around, and the cameras can see over fences that I cant see over when I walk down the road. I am 6" tall.

http://maps.google.com.au/maps?ll=-34.898462,138.57841&spn=0.028405,0.066047&sll=-31.952854,115.857339&sspn=0.117541,0.264187&vpsrc=6&t=h&z=15&layer=c&cbll=-34.898504,138.578504&panoid=s3eHExAfewhlDLZmJVfalQ&cbp=12,192.3,,0,8.71

A random house.. So now whos the evil one? Me for posting a random this link? or google for making it public for anyone who looks? Or nobody - should we not expect fences this high to keep the view off the internet?

Maybe some or most people dont care, but we should be very careful about our privacy being eroded.

Google will keep pushing the limits until they are stopped. But they are eroding our expectation of privacy and then keep moving the line.

[JulianB]

Six inches tall?

Given that you claim to be only 6" tall, I'm not surprised the camera can see over fences that you can't!

[Anonymous Coward]

@ andro

If you are only 6" tall, then I'm not surprised you can't see over fences.

[The Bit Wrangler]

What privacy has been invaded here ? It's a picture of a house... Sure it's more than you can see if you're stood next to the fence but not if, say, you were riding a bicycle along the street. Or in a truck cab. It's a static picture, not a live web-cam.

[Flugal]

Erm

Could you not quite easily see over that wall from a lorry cab or as a passenger on a bus/coach?

I'm struggling to see here what Google sees that somebody passing by in various modes of transport.

[Anonymous Coward]

Boring

No naked people.

[Ignazio]

Depends on the shop. If it peeks inside a newsstand...