Google To Update Street View Images Across Dozens of Countries, Deleted Blog Post Says (theverge.com) 29
Google is getting ready to show off updated Street View imagery in nearly 80 countries. The Verge: In a now-removed blog post seen by The Verge, Google announced that the new images are coming to countries like Australia, Brazil, Denmark, Japan, the Philippines, Rwanda, Serbia, South Africa, and more. Google is also bringing Street View to a handful of countries where it's never been available, including Bosnia, Namibia, Lichtenstein, and Paraguay. The company said its more portable Street View camera, which launched in 2022, will help offer images of "even more places in the future."
Google Maps and Google Earth are getting sharper satellite imagery as well, thanks to the company's cloud-removal AI tool that takes out clouds, shadows, haze, and mist. This should result in "brighter, more vibrant" images, according to Google.
Google Maps and Google Earth are getting sharper satellite imagery as well, thanks to the company's cloud-removal AI tool that takes out clouds, shadows, haze, and mist. This should result in "brighter, more vibrant" images, according to Google.
Sounds expensive (Score:3)
They're spending more money than ever on this. Kind of makes you worry. Either they already found a way to monetize this in a big way. Or they're about to. But it does make you wonder what privacy-invasive thing they'll be able to do with overhead and street-level imagery, AI, and all of your personal information.
Re: (Score:2)
They're spending more money than ever on this.
Not that much in the case of Liechtenstein [wikipedia.org]:
There are about 250 kilometres (155 mi) of paved roadway within Liechtenstein, with 90 km (56 mi) of marked bicycle paths.
Re: (Score:2)
I've never seen Google Street View images along bicycle paths, not least because they use road vehicles to take the images.
Re:Sounds expensive (Score:5, Informative)
not least because they use road vehicles to take the images.
They also have backpack and bike mounted cameras.
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Google has also used a camel [cnn.com] for street view (such that it is).
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They also have backpack and bike mounted cameras. Google has also used a camel [cnn.com] for street view (such that it is).
Also boat, diver, snowmobile, sheep, ATV, raft, and more [blog.google]. Most of these are kind of gimmicky one-off methods to capture imagery of unusual locations, not scalable systems attempting to cover the globe. But, still, they're kind of cool.
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I've never seen Google Street View images along bicycle paths, not least because they use road vehicles to take the images.
And now I have a mental image of a dude on a bicycle with that whole camera contraption strapped to his helmet. I think that could be a new sitcom. "Bicycle Google Street View Capture Theater." Each episode is just this poor dude getting help from passersby as he topples over from the top-heaviness.
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Despite the fact they don't have it helmet mounted, it is no less weirder in reality. https://www.fastcompany.com/17... [fastcompany.com]
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Despite the fact they don't have it helmet mounted, it is no less weirder in reality. https://www.fastcompany.com/17... [fastcompany.com]
My God. What a monstrosity.
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Re: (Score:3)
One obvious way to monetize is to rent the data to firms training self-driving cars.
Whatever is visible from above or from the public street is public info IMHO. I don't have privacy issues with that.
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Germany does, though.
There was that scandal with Google cars taking images of courtyards with low-ish fences, catching naked homeowners sunbathing. I might be mistaken, but I believe the algorithm only blurred their faces, which is hilarious to me.
Re: Sounds expensive (Score:2)
Re:Sounds expensive (Score:4, Interesting)
They're spending more money than ever on this. Kind of makes you worry. Either they already found a way to monetize this in a big way. Or they're about to. But it does make you wonder what privacy-invasive thing they'll be able to do with overhead and street-level imagery, AI, and all of your personal information.
Google Maps is primarily monetized [investopedia.com] through advertising purchased by local businesses. Stuff like StreetView just makes Maps more useful, to bring in more users, and hence more advertising revenue.
Often the boring, obvious answer is also the correct one.
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Sorry bro, the sky is not falling.
The answer to global warming? (Score:4, Funny)
... the company's cloud-removal AI tool that takes out clouds, shadows, haze, and mist.
If it can do all that, why can't it remove greenhouse gases as well? Not to mention SO2 and particulates from forest fires...
Re: The answer to global warming? (Score:1, Insightful)
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They are removing clouds, or the haze caused by clouds, from the images, not actually removing clouds.
I think that the post had been intended as funny.
Re: The answer to global warming? (Score:4, Funny)
Whooooooosh ......
Deleted blog post (Score:3)
Possibly because one of the governments had objected?
More portable Street View camera (Score:2)
Several years ago, I looked up the street view of a road in Beirut, Lebanon. I wondered how they were getting their Google car down some of those roads. Until I turned my view towards a large storefront window along the side of the road. The reflection showed some guy walking along with a backpack and a camera sticking out the top.
So, more portable cameras have been available for maybe five years.
Re: (Score:2)
They have streetview of trails and even mountain summits.
AI Removal (Score:2)
Next year we'll start hearing about what else it removes that the public ought to know about.
Some online sleuths have uncovered significant misconduct using these technologies.
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Oddly, I ran into an entire suburban street just outside Boston the other day with a Street View blackhole.
Just a working-class neighborhood where a FoF lives, no rich people there. It didn't harm my route planning, just unexpected.
Maybe a safe house, I dunno. I'll check again when they do the next update.
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There are a number of prisons in France that are blocked because so many prison escapes have used helicopters there.
Virtual vacations (Score:2)
When I'm bored and haven't traveled in a while I like to take "virtual vacations". I pick some place off the beaten path, some place I'd probably never have a reason to visit, and go on google street view and roam around.
One-time investment? (Score:2)
Re: One-time investment? (Score:2)
Why is this news (Score:2)
Google are literally constantly updating street view images. The ones for out street was updated only last year. New countries are slowly being added. The interesting part of this story: a more compact system dates back to 2022.
Tax agencies will be satisfied (Score:2)
Let me explain: In our company we had a dispute with the tax agency here in Chile. They were objecting to one minor expense related to tree planting, because... they couldn't see the trees in the satellite view of Google maps! It didn't matter to them that the timestamp in the image was from 5 years ago. In the end we had to hire a tax attorney to appeal hteir decision and avoid a big fine.
Reading about this I wonder: what if the tax lady went all the way up to Google? Sounds far fetched, but she definitel