Google Street View hits UK maps

 

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By Barry Collins

Posted on 19 Mar 2009 at 12:22

Google has finally rolled out its Street View service in the UK.

The feature - which has attracted much criticism from privacy groups - provides street-level photography of major cities, allowing you to take a virtual walk around town.

It's led to some amusing mishaps in the US, including capturing men leaving strip clubs and burglars jumping out of windows.

Google has sent its Street View photography vans to 25 cities in the UK, including Belfast, Cardiff, Edinburgh, Leeds, London, Manchester and Oxford.

The Street View images are available in the full panoply of the company's mapping services, including Google Earth and Google Maps on both desktop and mobile. The images are accessible by clicking on the little man icon and dragging him on to the street you wish to view.

As a sop to the privacy zealots, Google is blurring out the faces of people who are inadvertently captured in Street View photography.

UK "victims" include Chris Green, former editor of our sister-title IT Pro, who was snapped standing outside of his house.