El Reg Street View snappers caught on camera
It's been live for less than a week, but Google's Street View has already got the press and privacy outfits in a bit of a tizz over the possible implications of having the UK's highways and byways, and indeed the citizens unfortunate enough to have been walking Blighty's leafy boulevards when the Orwellian Opel came a-calling, …
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But, the privacy!!?!?!
You didn't blur the number plate / drivers face?!? Ban this sick filth. Think of the children. And some other Daily Mailesque stuff.
It is a pity that
None of the pictures shown here didn't include
1) A Policeman
2) A member of the Armed Forces
3) A member of the Security Services (MI5 etc)
Then the operators of google would no doubt be taken hotfoot to the UK version of Guantanamo Bay (aka Belmarsh, SE London)
as they would have clearly taken pictures that could be of benefit to Terrorists and such pictures have been made illegal by our esteemed NuLab Governement with El Gordo firmly at the helm.
Mines the one with the one way ticket to someplace very far away from this police state we now live in
Reflecto-Google
Here's a better reflective self-shot of one of the cars. Disappointing to see no-one coming out of the knocking shop...
http://maps.google.co.uk/?ie=UTF8&ll=51.45291,-2.59861&spn=0,359.977169&z=16&layer=c&cbll=51.453239,-2.59943&panoid=bCsQh3d74Cm04wbbncaKBA&cbp=12,18.381746290605605,,0,16.334586466165412
The best bit is...
Because the images are blurred, they don't know who the snappers are.
What? They keep unblurred originals? they would be sneaky and un-British!
Double team
Bressenden Place London has some car on car action, two street view cars take it in turns photographing each other.
I'm suprised that here in the States
I'm suprised that here in the States that no one has started a hunting club to go after the google street view cars. On the other hand, we are a very civil society. We have the world's largest financial system meltdown with no real public response, as contrast to, say, the French. They riot in the streets every time a croissant gets burned.
Finally
I love the way the Googlemobile's Google logo has been blurred out
How does this work?
http://maps.google.co.uk/maps?f=q&source=s_q&hl=en&geocode=&q=Portland+House,+Bressenden+Pl,+Westminster,+London+SW1E,+UK&sll=51.497736,-0.1419&sspn=0,359.98881&ie=UTF8&ll=51.497362,-0.141964&spn=0,359.910479&z=14&layer=c&cbll=51.497226,-0.141956&panoid=cgCcQesh3KTxQNKBtiifZA&cbp=12,10.763777649760888,,0,10.695110258868633
This is from outside our office which is the skyscraper to the right. Again the google car taking photos of itself a second earlier? Surely this breach of the space time continuum can have worse impacts to the universe than the LHC?!
Chimp
Blurring
I love the way the Google logo has been blurred out on the last photo. Does the Google consciousness recognise this as a face?
thank you El Reg
You saved us all!
Now if you could just sort out IE standards compliance
Are they Opel Fruits?
I'll get my coat.
Anonymous for safety
Could this be like Eddie Stobart spotting?
We need a website with a pic of each unique google streetview car and where it has been spotted.
@Ian Ferguson
>"Does the Google consciousness recognise this as a face?"
Nope, a number plate.
Round my way, the facial-recognition algorithm has been busy blurring out hubcaps on people's cars!
@Ian F and Jeremy
The blurring of the Google logo has clearly occurred because the Google datacentre considers itself a person - it has become self-aware people!! Head for the hills!!
One on the M1
http://maps.google.co.uk/?ie=UTF8&ll=52.91664,-1.299992&spn=0,359.980688&t=h&z=16&layer=c&cbll=52.914515,-1.299777&panoid=IvUwxANfQ70EhYG09-5lPA&cbp=12,174.2469200928474,,2,3.9250000000000043
The spycar's wingman appears to have left the lens cap on
Game for a laugh
Join us again next week when we very much hope you'll be watching us, watching you, watching us, watching you - goodnight !
@Simon Elliot
"We need a website with a pic of each unique google streetview car and where it has been spotted."
What we really need is for someone to create a web-page with copies of the paired pictures with Google Earth kml links to where each pair of photos was taken; then when you click on the link, it opens Google Earth with a custom layer with a link back to the web-site showing the two photos, which takes you back ...
You could bring the whole internet down in a nano-second!
picture quality
interesting, the quality of the pictures taken of the cars is quite high, whilst the ones of the people taken by the car is quite low.
Most of the people seem to be using mobile phones, maybe the cars should be equiped with mobile phones to take better quality pictures.
So what
Got snapped at my 5th floor flats balcony when stepped out to show my wife that there goes the google streetview car. Only souls visible on the 11 floor highrise.
Re: Finally
Aha, more proof of my Google Blackmail (tm) 0.1 (Beta) theory as I previously outlined in the Rickmansworth story comments section.
Obviously Google don't pay themselves to advertise themselves* and the algorithm needs an "except Google of course, you daft bloody machine" tweak.
*Because such link sponsorship recursion would cause spacetime to fold in on itself and the Universe to be reborn as one very long Ocean Finance advertisement.
page six
Is also an example of the face recognition blurring failing to work...
I know that the guy has covered a quarter of his own face with a camera, but still seems quite recognisable.
General StreetView shenanigans
You remember that very stereotypical yank holding a bottle and a gun in streetview, well here's my submission for the UK equivalent -
http://maps.google.co.uk/maps?hl=en&ie=UTF8&ll=52.434953,-1.433072&spn=0,359.954896&z=15&layer=c&cbll=52.434818,-1.433204&panoid=JQokEJVO393yYuAms4tweA&cbp=12,86.79216327551691,,3,3.8929178924053844
Not for the faint of heart. A chav would have been too easy to find. At least this guys face is blurred.
*shudder*
Found!
They've already found Waldo now I've found Pop-Eye's girlfriend Olyve Oyl
@ 110 cheltenham rd, bristol, england, united kingdom
1st Street View pic in the story, scroll left
Report a problem
http://maps.google.com/local/add/flagStreetView?hl=en-GB&cbp=1,156.9761284279469,,2,15.424059340591093&cb_client=maps_sv&sig=00e23e96eed6ab764c44c8deac925d4fc48cbc3c0a505cd155f2f3238796fe1c39c07a9b2715f1353dcbe6dea11a76b96612f1176f5e19e81e3617a5754863ba216c95bdc19b4e3194&gl=GB
Sometimes you just got to scratch . . . . . .
check the silver mondeo
They said that they blur faces and number plates check the silver mondeo infront of the G-mobile then look to the rear left at the asda sighn for some reason its been blured...
http://maps.google.co.uk/maps?hl=en&ie=UTF8&ll=52.434953,-1.433072&spn=0,359.954896&z=15&layer=c&cbll=52.434818,-1.433204&panoid=JQokEJVO393yYuAms4tweA&cbp=12,86.79216327551691,,3,3.8929178924053844
@AC Re It is a pity that
What about police men or members of the armed forces and security services in plain clothes? Wouldn't that be banned as well?
"UK version of Guantanamo Bay (aka Belmarsh, SE London)" I thought that was Guernsey. Or, for boredom's sake, Sark.
EA
How come the government has yet to complain...
...about the fuel wasted by these vehicles?
Paris, wasted fuel.
Pots and Kettles
I find the general reaction of the tabloids very amusing. Invasion of privacy? That's our job!
RHD Opel?
Am I recognizing correctly that they're using RHD Opel Cars? I didn't know those exist.. Why aren't they Vauxhall (or Holden) badged?
statues..
ok, slightly off topic here, but have you noticed the way the lovely face blurring technique works on statues.... what about posters etc?
They get around
Saw a google-mobile in Blyth Northumberland today around the port area. Wish I'd had my phone on me at the time to take a snap :(
another streetcar meeting point, plus a idiot on bouncy shoes
Here is a streetcar following a streetcar in Edinburgh
http://maps.google.co.uk/maps?cbp=11,321.9628614403103,,0,20.89673913043478&cbll=55.947989,-3.198032&layer=c&hl=en&ie=UTF8&panoid=gtSkea_9mj7jJNqo_XPrCw&source=embed&ll=55.947986,-3.19803&spn=0.00122,0.006909&t=h&z=17
Also some idiot who lost his balance in Aberdeen wearing stupid bouncing shoes
http://maps.google.com/maps?q=aberdeen&sourceid=ie7&oe=utf8&ie=UTF8&split=0&ei=R5PLSfyZNObRjAey1NH2CQ&layer=c&cbll=57.171667,-2.078679&panoid=xhjhcQ6unmFE5ywCFXXDnw&cbp=11,70.33462378485204,,1,10.590062111801238&ll=57.171666,-2.078691&spn=0.004467,0.027637&t=h&z=15&iwloc=addr
Telegraph learning 'pooters
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/scienceandtechnology/technology/google/5047649/Oasis-frontman-Liam-Gallagher-captured-in-pub-on-Google-Street-View.html.
Fantastic video of someone using Street View. The best bit is not the possible rock stat but that they keep centering the screen and then pressing the + button in the top left. Clearly no-one's told them about the double click to centre and zoom.
Streetview Sighting
Quite surprised to see the street view car in a rural market town this morning.
http://maps.google.co.uk/maps?f=q&source=s_q&hl=en&geocode=&q=oakfield+road,+market+drayton&sll=53.427001,-2.957663&sspn=0.009052,0.019312&g=oakfield+road&ie=UTF8&ll=52.902625,-2.497008&spn=0.009163,0.019312&z=16
@Richard Bazen
"........what about posters etc?"
Good grief! I posted here yesterday. This morning I looked at my reflection in the steamed-up bathroom mirror and my face was blurred!
Curse you Google.
@Sadie
So why where both cars in lane 3 when 1 and 2 were clear hence causing a tailback :)
Bressenden Place
Bressenden Place, Victoria, outside the Department for Communities and Local Government's Eland House HQ is definitely smack in the middle of the 'twilight zone' - clearly there are two streetview cars following each other up the street, or perhaps there is some weird time-travel, dimension-shifting event going on...
My mate Jez
He saw the sneaky f*****s coming all right:
http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&source=s_q&hl=en&geocode=&q=141+sunny+gardens+road+nw4&sll=51.51925,-0.315728&sspn=0.00693,0.017231&ie=UTF8&ll=51.596641,-0.225434&spn=0.006918,0.017231&z=16&iwloc=addr&layer=c&cbll=51.596728,-0.225402&panoid=SMPdtdqr4VpAo2OjVUnX9A&cbp=12,288.8374171264795,,1,9.931506849315069
Ref: "I'm suprised that here in the States"
"as contrast to, say, the French. They riot in the streets every time a croissant gets burned."
Please delete "a croissant" and insert "lamb".
It's a tradition you know.
Street car sighting
Googles streetview car was in Warrington on Sunday (29/3), driving at what I'd call excessive speeds. Do you think google would give out the GPS data to see if any camera car has been driven over the speed limit?
Didn't think so, I did try to get a photo, but the car was going to fast
RHD Opels
The RHD Opels are from Ireland, we get Opel badges instead of Vauxhall for some reason.
So what happened to the map you promised in the bootnote?
Here's my entry, Tottenham sunbather...
http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&source=s_q&hl=en&geocode=&q=141+sunny+gardens+road+nw4&sll=51.51925,-0.315728&sspn=0.00693,0.017231&ie=UTF8&ll=51.596641,-0.225434&spn=0.006918,0.017231&z=16&iwloc=addr&layer=c&cbll=51.596728,-0.225402&panoid=SMPdtdqr4VpAo2OjVUnX9A&cbp=12,288.8374171264795,,1,9.931506849315069
got caught carrying the lunch
for me and some work buddies on the way back to work.
http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&source=s_q&hl=en&geocode=&q=pets+wood&sll=51.423042,-0.12954&sspn=0,359.972534&g=sw16+6jx&ie=UTF8&ll=60.930432,0&spn=0,174.375&z=0&layer=c&cbll=51.385778,0.075994&panoid=ZKicUa3GzlSnFdK451w_oQ&cbp=12,326.4748588909591,,2,9.049223900273766
pity they dident use the photo later when i caught up with it at the roundabout.
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