Can I use Google Maps Street View to find a specific house?

Some time back, Google had the option that you could “move” the pointer when you entered an exact street number address into the site and update the result that everyone saw. I actually repositioned the pointer for my house, which originally was about two houses shy.

Nowadays, Google has my whole neighborhood nailed nicely. My city and county is one of those that has property lines visible at the closest zoom levels and I presume they’ve incorporated the county property database to get the mapping pretty much exactly right.

One of the features found in Bing is “birds eye view” which uses aircraft photo mapping. It’s nice to have another alternate when looking for different time lines of images.

I’m sure you knew this already, but the higher zoom levels on Google Maps/Google Earth are also from aircraft.

The bird’s eye view in Bing is an angled view rather than straight down. You can also click EWNS on the compass rose in upper left to change the view and click on the magnifying glass below to zoom in. Click on Aerial and then Select Bird’s Eye if it is available. You can identify cars and see people walking around.

Orlando City Hall

Google just introduced “Aerial” photos which are like Bing’s Bird’s Eye View. So far only a few locations have been published, San Jose, San Diego, and Portland.

The Googleplex

My house on Google is dead on accurate, even though it keeps me from zooming in too far. It used to be off by a couple blocks.

So much for having sex in the back yard or on the roof.