My Guest Appearance On Google Street
I was in the local pub on Friday night with some of the men off the street. One of the many topics we covered was Google Street, which, I didn't realise, had been released and discussed in the UK by the media during the week.
This morning I took a look at our road as I was expecting myself to be on it. How could I be sure I'd be on it? Because I had a face-off with the car Google used to photo it about a year ago.
It was when I had just finished rebuilding the garage/office at the bottom of our drive. I was at the front of the garage, on top of some step ladders attaching a light when I heard a car pull up at the end of the drive, which is also the end of the road (a cul-de-sac), where cars are forced to turn round. So I turned round to see who it was (living on a cul-de-sac makes you notice every car that comes down). To my surprise it was the Google street car, with its big menacing eye(s) pointing straight down the drive at me.
The car spent quite a bit of time parked at the end of the drive. For all the time it was there I just stared back. Part of me was thinking if I stare for long enough I'll get on the web. Another part of me was just giving it and the driver a "What the hell do you think you're doing!?" glare. Same as I would if anybody stood at the end of my drive with a camera and took photos of me. The fact it was Google didn't change anything. I'm no big Google fan by any means. I wasn't about to give them a friendly wave and invite them in for a look round.
As it turns out the filming must have ended before it got to the end of the road as what you see above is as far as you get. Although I have managed to elbow my way in. You can just make out my arm and the drill I am using to make a hole in the top of the garage.
During the conversation in the pub the focus was on privacy concerns. As always I like to play Devil's advocate to the opinions of my Daily Mail-reading neighbours. All they are doing, I argued, is taking pictures from public property, just as any of us can do. There's nothing illegal in what they're doing.
As a service I know I'm going to use and love the street view of an area. That said, it's never nice to see your own house on it. I've got mixed opinions on it. You?
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Yep. When they announced it was available I immediately went looking for my own house. Sad to say, nobody was home. But my car got a look in. It was angled side on so the number plate wasn't visible.
I'm guessing that they went down my road about October time last year. Still leaves on trees, the roadworks further down the street and a for-sale sign outside the house (actually from the flat upstairs).
It seems kind of silly that they have pulled all the "terrorist targets" off the maps. Things like the Houses of Parliament, and Downing Street. I really don't see the point of that as I can take a quick trip into town and take photos from almost the exact same spot (I'm not standing in London trafiic to take my photos thank you!) and post them up to the web. Yes Google has blurred faces and number plates, but at least that is more than people do when they post to Flickr.
I have no qualms about Google maps taking photos of my place. But I have no hand in the whole thing. :p
I live very far out, so the chances of Google Street coming to my culdesac are as remote as my house. But, what occurred to me was that if they did, the front of our house is so normal and plain compared to all that goes on within and behind it that it would make me feel almost guilty for the one truly public view of my house to be so unrevealing. I suppose it's a bit the same as if you were the subject of biography and the biographer only covered your public life. You'd feel like the readers were being duped. Who would suspect from your lone appendage, hovering above the drive, that international commerce transpires just out of view?
I like the feature. When looking for a new house because of the job market, our plant is closing, I found it rather nice to look see inside house pictures on the Realtor site and then go to Google to see the yard and the neighborhood.
As far as privacy goes, I don't have anything to hide. If they tap my phones or whatever they will be asleep from boredom in a matter of minutes any way :) The only things I talk about are to my buddies at the gym, customers, and to my wife (which we have been married on the 26th for four years so there's nothing exciting to listen to there any more :) )
Oddly enough, I live off of any mapping grid. When I'm at my home, any mapping software I've ever used just shows me as being in the middle of the woods.
That being said, I couldn't care less if Google took pictures of the front of my house. I tend to not keep any sensitive documents or bank statements pasted to the front of my home, anyway!
My wife got a big kick out of seeing herself on the streetmaps view, coming out our our street. So of course I teased, "Wow babe, it's like your famous now"
Ha. The Register has posted a good round up of people wanting to get their own back on the all-seeing-eyes-of-Sauron, sorry Google.
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2009/03/24/surveillance_feedback_loop/