Google Street View has been available in several cities but has now made its debut in Boston, according to the Globe. The process allows you to take a 360 view of an address.
If you want to use it, just go to Google Maps, type in a Boston address, and click on the little yellow man that pops up at the address. A new window will appear with a street-level image of the area. You can zoom in, rotate, and move up and down the street.
Bostonist took it on a test run with a few addresses at random. We looked up the Paradise Lounge, and, hello, we see you!
The Google Street View won't plop you down right in front of a specific address, but you can navigate to it easily.
Blue lines on the Street View map indicate which streets Google has covered. However, if you look at the bigger view of which streets are mapped and which ones aren't, large swaths of West Roxbury, Roslindale, Roxbury, Dorchester, and Mattapan don't have Street View. Is Google going to go there? People live there, too!
For the record, Bostonist e-mailed the Google press center and will post an update if they respond.
Bostonist is amped up at the possibilities of Street View, but the Globe points out some problems with it. Since people are visible in the shots, their rights may be violated, and, depending on the angle, you can get a good view of some faces. The Globe reported that San Francisco was upset because you could see who was going in and out of adult bookstores. Also, the Google Street View car might not want to be around should the BPD's "Operation Squeeze" be at work.
And if you see anything goofy or embarrassing on Google Street View, let us know in the comments! Universal Hub is already looking for naked butts.
All snapshots from Google Street View.
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