If you haven't yet had a go with Google Street View, do. Just go to http://maps.google.co.uk/, zoom into one of the supported UK cities (all of the major ones have been mapped) and drag the icon of the little man onto a street. You'll then get a photo view of the street that you can drag and view around 360-degrees and 'walk' around by clicking the arrows.
Leaving aside the privacy concerns, particularly where people have been caught in embarrassing situations, such as throwing up outside of a pub, emerging from a sex shop or haggling with a Big Issue salesperson, it's an astounding work of technology.
Google employed people to drive around cities in special vehicles fitted with an array of cameras that automatically photograph the surrounding area. The pictures are all stitched together and uploaded to Google Maps to give you the view that you see online. It's absolutely brilliant and an amazing way to enhance directions, look at a new house or even explore somewhere before visiting for real.
Enough about the practical uses of the service, what about having fun? Remember how the old-style school photos would work, where the camera would be panned across the pupils, and if you were quick you could run from one side of the photo to the other and appear twice? Isn't it about time that we did that with Street View?
My aim is now to track down the photography cars and follow them as they take the pictures. By the time the files are uploaded I'd like Street View to look like my own personal Being John Malkovich. I may even go one step further and put on a variety of different disguises for different shots.
Why stop there, though: join in the fun yourself and bring some friends. A flash mob dancing in Liverpool Street station is one thing, but a flash mob taking over Street View has got to be even better; especially if we all dress as zombies.
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Artists Robin Hewlett and Ben Kinsley have already done so... type Street View Prank into Google Search to see hundreds of links to sites showing views of Samsonia Way in Pittsburgh.
If you go to 28 rue Piat 75020 Paris and enjoy the view across Paris. There you will find a young lad doing just that and running on to 26 rue Piat.
Sorry but Street View is a tremendous and welcome resource and I don't want to be distracted when using it by attention seekers who have nothing better to do. Just IMHO.
google street view is an absolute life saver!! and a fantastic idea!!
Street view is brilliant.
I wanted to visit 3 shops in a strange city so got the addresses from their websites then went onto street view to find their exact locations and how to navigate one way systems etc. to their parking areas. Result - a sequence for visiting and no hassle on the day.
If people are embarrassed by what they are caught doing, they shouldn't be doing it in the first place.
An article worth a visit
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