Street View Launched by Google

Date: 2 December 2008

Today Street View has been launched by Google. Street View is a new feature for Google Maps that lets internet users view and navigate 360 degree street-level imagery of New Zealand's cities, towns, regions and remote areas.

New Zealand is the seventh country to get Street View. Other countries to have Street View are Australia, France, Italy, Japan, Spain, and the United States (see Wikipedia).

Some people have raised concerns that Street View breeches people's privacy. Street View cameras have caught people in potentially sensitive situations, such as men leaving strip bars. However, the Privacy Commissioner has discussed Street View with Google and is encouraged by Google's proactive approach to protecting privacy, through face blurring and an image removal process.

Wellington privacy lawyer John Edwards said that, under New Zealand law, people did not have a reasonable expectation for privacy while in public - but street view made it difficult to keep their business to themselves. "I don't know that there's any great objection. Google will still be liable if they do anything or show anything really offensive and people will still have a remedy" (see The Dominion Post Tuesday, 2 December 2008). If you are concerned about an image on Street View, you can request it be removed using the ‘Report a Concern' function on the bottom right corner of the screen when looking at the Street View image.

Scoop suggests that Street View imagery was collected by camera-equipped cars that drove along public roads in New Zealand over the past 12 months - however, it is not clear exactly when specific images on display were taken nor when images will be updated. Neither is Google saying what percentage of New Zealand streets have been included in Street View, only that Google's database of photos now runs into the tens of millions.

The National Business Review suggests that photo frequency differs by area, with Street View's photos of many urban streets allowing panoromas that offer multiple views of the same building or house. In rural areas, photo frequency falls to every 50m or 100m.

In January, Wellington mapping firm Terralink kicked off its own project to film the scene from the length of all 144,000 kilometres of roads in New Zealand over the next two years, using a van equipped with six cameras strapped to its roof.
The Dominion Post suggests that unlike Google, Terralink does not plan to make its entire database available free online. Instead, it hopes to sell its imagery to government agencies, utilities and emergency services.