Poll: "Street View" on Google Maps - Creepy or Cool?

[Blue-Jay]

Poll question: Poll: "Street View" on Google Maps - Creepy or Cool?

I've been checking out my old neighborhood (and some friends' neighborhoods) for a while, and I think that feature is amazing. It's kind of weird that my little hometown of about 65,000 has nearly every street covered. I looked at my mom's house, the homes of my old friends, and a few other places from my history. Pretty cool if you ask me.

Coolness aside, it's a bit creepy and weird to me. I even saw my old car, and some dog toys in my mom's yard. (I knew where my old car was going to be parked, BTW)

Even creepier - I found the addresses of a few of my old lost friends, and was able to check out their houses from the comfort of my home office. (Dear Rick - Mow your fucking lawn!)

Have you used it? Is it cool or creepy?

[Duer 157099]

1. My street has recently been googled, those blue lines are like

some sort of spreading infection aren't they?

I've done the same thing you have, visited old stomping grounds and such. One thing I notice is that quite a few streets have their garbage cans out, which made me wonder whether the google was placing their cameras on the garbage trucks! I mean, that would be a creative solution wouldn't it? Downside is everyone has their trash cans out for photo day, lol.

The coolness and utility of it just far outweighs the creepy factor, although in the beginning, I was a bit concerned about it.

I like getting a visual on a destination, makes it much easier to find in real life, too. I make virtual trips before getting in the car when I'm not sure of where I'm going.

[Blue-Jay]

3. My own street is still incomplete.

I kind of wish I could find out when they're going to be here, as I'd love to put a sign in the yard.

[Duer 157099]

14. Well, just start putting the sign each day

And put the date on it too, and change the date each day, just so you'll finally know when they did show up.

It'd be fun to see what this GoogleVehicle looks like. I swear it's the trash truck.

[Blue-Jay]

30. That sounds too much like "work".

*shudders*

[begin_within]

2. I think it's fun

I've looked up not only where I live now, but also my boyhood home, and homes of my family members. It doesn't feel creepy. Mostly I use it for looking up famous landmarks, places I've been and places I'm going to. It did help me locate a parking lot for an event I went to on the 4th of July.

[Blue-Jay]

4. Yeah. I like it, but I can understand how people might not.

I should cross-post this in GD, just because I think that I'll get more "creepy" responses there.

[begin_within]

6. What can you tell about someone's house from it that you can't tell from just driving by?

I suppose what's on their roof, and whether they have a pool or not, but that's about all. The detail's just not there. I can't ever recall seeing a person.

[Blue-Jay]

8. I've seen people, and a license plate number or two.

Rare, but it happens.

You can email google and have them blur out a license plate if they got one, BTW. Doesn't even need to be yours; just find one and tell them about it.

[begin_within]

9. That's cool. I think if you really want to know about some particular place,

you would find out a LOT more about it by just going there and looking around rather than relying on a Google image.

[Blue-Jay]

22. I'm talking about the "Street View", not just the sat images.

And (if I were a robber), I could see if there are expensive cars in the driveway, if there's "cover" from the neighbors (privacy fences, wooded areas, etc), if there's a good place to park in order to go unnoticed... Things like that.

[begin_within]

38. If you type in my address, and zoom in all the way, it doesn't even show the right house

in fact, my house doesn't even appear on the screen if you are zoomed in completely. And if you are looking for the offices of the Port of San Diego and type in their street address, the pointer is over the water in the bay. So I don't think their positioning is very accurate.

[madrchsod]

5. i think it`s great

my house looked kind`a bad cause the bushes were`t trimmed but it`s to say the least -interesting

[DS1]

7. makes it so easy to get to a place the first time

you're going there. assuming the target is mapped, of course.

[SPKrazy]

10. Yes I find you very attractive

that is why I use google maps to find you :P

:evilfrown:


WHERE THE HELL ARE YOU

Oh wait...

sorry, I got a little mixed up who I was replying to here...

Uhm... google maps are pretty cool, I remember a good friend showed me where her house was in relation to a lake that she walks around and her whole neighborhood once.

She also showed me the best way to get to her house from the main highway...

and

well that was all... it was just really interesting :D


:hi:

[Blue-Jay]

27. Sounds like an "internet hook-up" to me!

:rofl:

[Connonym]

11. first thought, creepy

but then I just did a search and found the house I grew up in and my grade school and it's pretty cool! However, if I was actually *in* one of the photos (I can't remember which DUer posted a while back that they were) I would think it's creepy as hell.

[CaliforniaPeggy]

12. My dear Blue-Jay!

I think it's very cool, but I wish they had covered more streets!

Not creepy at all for me!

:woohoo:

[Arugula Latte]

13. I've seen you all nekkid via satellite

:P

[galledgoblin]

15. yeah, google is nothing compared to some of the publicly accessible

orthoimagry available. I can see you and your little dog too!

[bluesbassman]

17. Good Lord! Did we all forget to shut the curtains again?

:blush:

[Blue-Jay]

25. That was probably too much trouble for an unfortunate payoff.

I mean... for me.

[Arugula Latte]

39. Hey, don't sell yourself short ...

*rimshot*

[Blue-Jay]

40. It was COLD that day!

:cry:

[Arugula Latte]

41. Then you shouldn't have been nekkid in the first place!

:D

[crimsonblue]

16. Public property, it's okay.

Private property, it's bullshit.

[Tommy_Carcetti]

18. My new addiction. Sadly neither my current house nor my old home are on it.

But it is freaking addictive.

[tigereye]

19. wow! My husband had better trim the hedges!

[Blue-Jay]

23. I checked. Your house isn't available on Street View.

YET!

muuuuaaaahahahahahaha!

[tigereye]

31. we've seen it on Google from the air.... whatever that's called

Google Earth?


:hi:

[Blue-Jay]

32. I can see my wife's car from the satellite view.

No Street View yet.

[Midlodemocrat]

20. I love it.

[Iggo]

21. 100% creepy.

Our garage door was open when they went by. You can see a lot of our stuff in there. But to be fair, our garage door is open all day anyway. Still...

In the picture of my coworker's house, his wife is bending over reaching into the car trunk for something. Nice picture IMO, but as you can imagine, they are not pleased.

[Blue-Jay]

43. You got a screencap of your neighbor's wife?

uhhh... I'm doing research, ya know.

[GreenPartyVoter]

24. Your poll immediately made me think of

*giggling*

[Blue-Jay]

28. That's funny!

[Magrittes Pipe]

26. 60 cool/40 creepy

I saw my car.

[Blue-Jay]

29. I saw your car, too.

You should have purchased the dual exhaust model.

[EnviroBat]

33. I'm actually captured on camera, plain as day...

My friends thought this was a one-in-a-million type of event. Strange coincidence that I'd be leaving work as they took the pictures on my street.

But there I am...

[Blue-Jay]

35. You're FAMOUS!

That's awesome.

[EnviroBat]

37. Yep! that's what I thought too. My new name is "1121 Kinnear Rd"

I'll tell people to "Google" me... Honestly though, I should get about 2.5 million dollars for this...

[Phoonzang]

34. It allows me to take virtual vacations.

So 100 percent cool. It saved me a trip to Fairbanks, Alaska. Now I know that there's nothing but strip clubs and liquor stores. Oh I kid Fairbanks...

[Blue-Jay]

36. "Strip clubs and liquor stores" sounds like a wonderful vacation to me.

:bounce:

[petronius]

42. That's great news! I'm going to Fairbanks this fall, and I was afraid

I'd be stuck doing all that 'looking at nature' stuff... ;)