This is most definitely useful for some people but on the other hand it's kind of scary. Just think of all the license plates and people that are identifiable. I think they may have some privacy problems with it but it's a great amount of material for the community at large to parse and search along the lines of the existing satellite views. I already saw a few positions that were removed because they were part of a crime scene. We'll see how this new tech is put to use!

That's a great idea: streetviewnosepickers.com ... it's free if you want it! Btw, I found the link to the crime scene...just move a position or two toward the cars and the data is "no longer available".

http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&q=2967+geary+ave,+san+francisco&sll=37.783638,-122.452519&sspn=0.007479,0.014591&ie=UTF8&om=0&layer=c&cbll=37.781965,-122.450769&ll=37.785792,-122.450545&spn=0.007479,0.014591&z=16&cbp=1,134.527972027972,0.593411135389219,1

Hmm, seems like it could be useful in the same way that Live Maps "Bird's Eye View" is useful. Lets you see what the place actually looks like up close (so if your driving by you can know what to look for). I think Live Maps' Bird Eye is actually better, and the 3D you can get in some cities is amazing. But Google is doing some cool stuff too, so I guess in the end I, the end user, wins!

Not trying to start a "my mapping website can beat up your mapping website" argument, but Microsoft did something like this more than a year ago: http://channel9.msdn.com/ShowPost.aspx?PostID=166518 Unfortunately it seems they haven't made it publicly available or expanded it to other cities since it was first developed.

Is it useful? Meh. The people on the Channel 9 video make some arguments for how it is useful to be able to see buildings from street-level so you can use landmarks to find things, but unless you can provide street-level information for every city in North America with 100,000+ population, how useful is it really? If I can't rely on being able to use street-level landmarks everywhere I go, I probably won't use it at all.

You also have to consider the cost of doing this for every major city in the United States and the business case for potential revenue from that investment. Frankly I can't see this feature paying for itself.

Not to mention there are still places in the United States that don't even have good aerial photos available: http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&q=key+west,+fl&ie=UTF8&ll=24.555589,-81.803749&spn=0.002669,0.004034&t=h&z=18&om=1 I think their efforts would be better spent getting the features they currently have working better.

On the off chance that people want a place to post/discuss links of interesting StreetViews, I just created one. I put a couple links there already...

Oh wow, I hadn't thought of that. Someone is getting paid to look at every image google took (probably upwards of a million) and see if there is something to censor. They censored the "crime scene" as well as the image I've seen of a guy coming out of a strip club (there's a black square where I'm sure a sketchy photo would normally appear). Whatta job, whatta job.

I remember MS doing something similar before hand. But, why didn't they put it in Virtual Earth?? Maybe cos the javascript would bloat. What am I saying?! Virtual Earth is almost 600k (uncompressed, local scope obfuscation and minified).

That's my biggest fear as a map masher. These mapping APIs will just become bloated with 3d stuff that's totally useless for finding stuff on a map. The Map is a great usability metaphor, but I'd hate to see it suffer from bloated code.

I think these major mapping APIs are reaching a zenith for what you can do in under 300k in javascript. Any new feature from here on should be an optional javascript addon.

MS has had something like that for quite a while (http://ebersysesp.blogspot.com/) , seems more like a prototype thing so far, but I can definitely see it being useful in the near future

i live in NYC - which it appears as though almost all of manhattan is covered.

One thing that it would be useful for is when exiting the subway at a location you're not normally used to. Depending on the line and your sense of direction and how you exit the station, it can be rather confusing as to which direction to walk to get to your destination. Obviously, either someone needs a good memory or a printer for it to be really useful, though.

But, personally, i tend to work better on geographical directions instead 'walk/turn left at the big red building' insetad of 'turn onto 4th street', simply because 4th street either doesn't have a sign or has a sign the size of a tictac.

I must be a little nutty, because I'm not at all concerned about the privacy part. Like you said, Scott, you have no reasonable expectation of privacy out on the street. Nor can you expect your house to be blurred out on the satellite view of Google maps just because you didn't consent to have it photographed. (I'm STILL seeing emails going around with subject lines like "OMG! People can see your house on Google maps! We'll be robbed and beaten!")

I think this is really useful for road warriors, or guys like me who are always going new places. (Well it will be once it's available someplace I'm traveling to.) Being able to preview the place you're going will make it easier to find it and find parking.

Of course, it's far more fun than useful. I've already taken a virtual stroll down Lexington Avenue in Manhattan in an attempt to relive last year's vacation. :)

It's more interesting than useful.

What is the privacy concerns of showing license plates? It's just a snapshot in time.

I used it last night to find out the ph # of a restaurant I order from but didn't know the name of. Thankfully, they wrote their number on their awning. Today I found a few people around Berkeley that seemed to be watching the truck go by.

I add the best "Google Street View" here : http://www.geo-trotter.com/cat-street-view.php (28 views).

I add the best "Google Street View" here : Google Street View (28 views).

Very useful.

My buddy is flying in next week to stay a couple nights, and I could email him the link to my house and say "Hey Brandt, we're the first house on the left, one block from the park on Pinehurst and Sunset Blvd."... and he could actually see ahead of time what the park and surrounding area looked like. I love this!

I found street level view at least somewhat useful... Stalk me if you love to Write Ttests First.

I added all the best "Google Street View" here : http://www.geo-trotter.com/cat-street-view.php.

LOL - here's a man caught picking his nose on Google Street Maps (posted on Digg):

Man caught picking his nose on Google Street Maps

Dang, that could have easily been me!