« Getting Presidential | Main | "Bundling" Strategies Changing? »
October 11, 2007
Google Maps Street View now live in Portland
Google Maps' "Street View" feature, introduced earlier in the year, allows street level views of most any address in a supported city. To do this, Google has a fleet of vehicles with roof-mounted camera arrays which survey entire cities. The end result and user interface are both amazing, and somewhat disconcerting, given various privacy concerns which have arisen.
Today, Google launched switched-on the service in Portland. To take a stroll around, start with this Google Maps Street View of Portland City Hall or enter your own address. (Click on the little human figure icon to open the street view.)
(If you zoom the map out, the streets outlined in blue are the ones with photographed addresses.)
Google must have photographed the area fairly recently: There are no photos on 5th Ave or two segments of Morrison and Yamhill, indicating street closures due to construction, and the photo of our house (of course I looked that one up first!) includes an illegally-parked car which has been out in front for approximately 8 weeks. The only other thing I can pinpoint about the date is that it was taken on an overcast morning when the windows were open, so the previous day must have been fairly warm. (Yes, the car has been reported.)
Bob R.
Posted by Bob Richardson at 10:04 AM
Comments
October 12, 2007 9:13 AM
Manzell Says:
For what it's worth, it must have rolled past my house sometime in June or earlier, before I trimmed my hedges.
October 15, 2007 11:35 AM
pcowan Says:
the week of july 13th through 19th
October 15, 2007 12:05 PM
Bob R. Says:
Thanks, pcowan -
Do you know how many cars and drivers it took to cover the vast majority of the Portland street grid in just 7 days? Sounds like quite an accomplishment.
- Bob R.
October 15, 2007 9:35 PM
Dave Says:
NW must have been done on the weekend, since I found my car and judging by the sunlight, it was a weekend since I'd have been at work at that time otherwise.
Definitely before August though, since there's a tree in the neighborhood cut down around 7/28 I saw still standing.
October 16, 2007 12:03 PM
pcowan Says:
hey bob,
i don't have any official information. i just looked at the clinton theater marquee at 26th and clinton. from the clinton view it is showing maximum overdrive, and from the 26th ave view, it is showing night of lust. maximum overdrive showed from 7/13-7/19, night of lust from 7/20 - 7/23, so it definitely takes them several days. i haven't looked beyond inner se, really, so maybe it took much longer?
October 16, 2007 12:30 PM
Bob R. Says:
Thanks... Maybe the thing to do (if anyone really cares :-) ) is to look for things like bank signs which display the date/temperature, etc. around town and see if any clues as to the date range can be found.
October 16, 2007 9:39 PM
Chris F. Says:
I have to agree that these photos were taken over a span of a couple weeks, considering I found my family's vehicle parked at both residence and work. In the area of 162nd and Burnside, if you go south, the sky is blue, go west and the sky is gray with some rain.
