Google Maps Launches Street View in India After 11-Year Wait (nasdaq.com) 9
Alphabet's Google Maps on Wednesday launched its panoramic Street View service in 10 Indian cities in partnership with Tech Mahindra and Genesys, 11 years after a first attempt ran into regulatory troubles. From a report: The feature, which offers 360-degree views of streets around the world using photos taken by cruising vehicles, has faced privacy complaints and regulatory scrutiny in many countries. The Indian launch comes after Google was denied permission at least twice in the last decade by the government over security concerns. Company executives said on Wednesday it was able to meet the regulatory requirements thanks to a new geospatial policy from India last year, which allows foreign map operators to provide panoramic imagery by licensing the data from local partners. Data collection was entirely done by Tech Mahindra and Genesys, Google said, adding the service would be available in over 50 Indian cities by the end of this year.
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Not working for me (Score:2)
I just tried looking at a street in Bangalore (Bengaluru) that I had visited years ago and all it showed was a black screen.
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Update: I moved around a little and finally it showed me an actual street view, although a good part of the picture was blurred out.
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"Update: I moved around a little and finally it showed me an actual street view, although a good part of the picture was blurred out."
1.38 billions faces to blur, 700 million motorbike plates blurred, 100 million car plates ...it's a lot. :-)
Small wonder they needed 11 years.
I have visions... (Score:3)
Of tuk-tuks with a google camera rig on the roof or two guys on some Chinese motorcycle with the guy on the back taking pics with a cell phone.
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I went to look at the Google street view of a neighborhood in Beirut, Lebanon a while back. Just to see how it was affected by the waterfront explosion (it survived). As I advanced the position along Rue Hamra, I turned the view to face a large plate glass window. In the reflection I could clearly see a guy walking along the street with a backpack and a camera on a stick.
How about the US then? and Germany? (Score:2)
The last streetview of my town was done in 2011, and they only did that major routes (state highways). Some parts of Germany (Leipzig, for instance) are a quaint 2008 version of the city. Both of these places have changed drastically since last photographed by streetview.