Digital Earth Blog

Very timely.  On election day here in the US, Google has released StreetView for Washington, DC, along with Seattle, WA and Baltimore, MD.

The Google Earth Blog has a nice write-up about the new coverage and we’ll post our finds in the GEH StreetView database as we come across noteworthy locations.  A few already submitted include the Jefferson Memorial, Washington Monument, Lincoln Memorial and the White House.  Have fun!

Fresh on the heels of launching StreetView in Spain, Google has released StreetView in four major areas in Italy: Florence, Lake Como, Milan and Rome.

Check out some of the cool sights that Keir found on Google Maps Mania, and then submit your own to the GEH StreetView Gallery.

It’s been a big day for Google.  Earlier we had the Google Earth iPhone app come out (and yes, it’s very slick), and now we have StreetView in Spain.

They only added in four cities (Madrid, Sevilla, Valencia and Barcelona), but each seems to have rather extensive coverage.  Google Maps Mania has found a handful of cool places, and we always encourage you to add your other finds to the GEH Streetview database.

As reported by Google Maps Mania, France has just received a bunch more StreetView imagery to go with the Tour de France imagery they already had.

It appears the new cities include:

• Lille
• Lyon
• Marseille
• Nice
• Paris
• Toulouse

A couple of good pieces of news for StreetView fans.  Somewhat unsurprisingly, StreetView is apparently making it’s way onto the next firmware release (v2.2) for the iPhone.  Considering it’s already on Google Maps Mobile and on Android, this wasn’t a shocker.  Still, it’s nice to know it’s coming soon.

Also, CNET is reporting that Google StreetView cars have been spotted in Singapore, and Google has confirmed that StreetView: Singapore will be here “in the coming months”.

Continuing to expand StreetView, both in terms of coverage areas and supported devices, will only serve to make it that much more useful for all of us.

StreetView has come to Google Maps Mobile! This should prove to be a very useful addition, since many people use GMM when trying to find a location.  Having a street-level view of their destination will be great!

In addition to StreetView, the mobile versions now have walking directions and business reviews as well.

The software is available for: Blackberry and “many Java-enabled phones”.  The software has not yet been updated for Symbian devices (like the Nokia N95), Windows Mobile devices or the Apple iPhone.

To download it for your phone, simply visit google.com/gmm.

Here is a short video showing off the new features:

(via LatLong blog)

The Daily Mail has published an article today with a variety of complaints that people have aired against the new StreetView imagery in Australia.

The first one is quite interesting.  A guy lost his best friend in a boating accident, and drunk himself stupid to dull the pain.  When he got home, he collapsed on the grass and fell asleep, where Google snapped his photo.  The image has since been removed, but you can see a screencap of it here.

Others include a woman who saw her recently deceased father in front of his house (which “renews the raw loss”), and another woman that was pleased to find herself in the imagery, working hard in the garden.

StreetView is coming to Britain soon, and they’re already calling it a “gross invasion of privacy”.

Do you agree with that?  Or is it acceptable because it’s all taken from public property?

I thought it was just Australia and Japan, but I was wrong.  According to the Google LatLong blog, a bunch of US cities have been added as well.

The LatLong blog lists a few of them, but the full list seems to be (based on a comment at Google Maps Mania):

• Eureka, CA
• Lancaster / Palmdale, CA
• California Central coast cites
• Victorville, CA
• Colorado Springs, CO
• El Paso, TX
• Odessa / Midland, TX
• Lubbock, TX
• Amarillo, TX
• Abilene, TX
• Waco, TX
• Kileen, TX
• Corpus Christi, TX
• Laredo, TX
• Brownsville, TX
• Wichita, KS
• Shreveport, LA
• New Orleans, LA
• Baton Rouge, LA
• Mobile, AL
• Columbus, GA
• Savannah, GA
• Augusta, GA
• Chattanooga, TN
• Fayetteville, NC
• Billings, MT

Google also says that there is “a special surprise somewhere in our US imagery”.  I have no idea what it is, but be sure to let us know if you find anything remarkable.

Also, I point you again to the GEH StreetView section to submit your interesting finds.  Have fun!

To go along with the Australia release that we mentioned earlier, StreetView is now available in Japan as well.

Still no official word from Google about the releases, but Google Maps Mania covers them both pretty well (list of cities, examples, etc).

Go play!

As reported by Google Maps Mania, StreetView has just launched in Australia.  The coverage is quite extensive, covering the outer edge of much of the island, with solid coverage in the big cities.  For an example, check out the Sydney Opera House:

Go check it out for yourself.  If you find anything cool, submit it to the GEH StreetView gallery for everyone else to see.