# Google street view - real time or what? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [April 4, 2009, 12:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/google-street-view-real-time-or-what/491925 "2009-04-04T00:21:22Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![Richard\_Pearse](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/richard_pearse/32/13144_2.png) [@Richard\_Pearse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Richard_Pearse)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2009, 9:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/google-street-view-real-time-or-what/491925/61 "2009-04-07T09:53:34Z")
> [@Troy\_McClure\_SF](#): > > Have you never been driving down a block squinting to try to find and read an address number, all while trying to navigate traffic and such? Knowing what a storefront or other building looks like from street level, knowing that you’re looking for the blue house, or the bar with the red sign in front, is all kinds of useful. Google maps and street view is absolutely awesome for doing virtual drive-bys of prospective rental properties or house purchases. I’d never really considered its use for this until I was looking for a place to live early this year. I go on the real estate website and find a selection of houses that sound ok. They have photos but sometimes they’re of limited value. Then I can go to Google Maps and check out the size of the back yard, “nope don’t like that one, no room for the trampoline.” After that I can go to street view and check out what it looks like from the front. This was great for weeding out places that sounded good, but weren’t really all that great and saved literally days of driving around the city. ---
**Author:** ![gotpasswords](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/c57346/32.png) [@gotpasswords](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gotpasswords)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2009, 3:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/google-street-view-real-time-or-what/491925/62 "2009-04-07T15:33:19Z")
[QUOTE=scifisam2009] Postcodes here do get very precise - don’t know what it’s like in the US. My postcode only applies to my flat and the ones above it, and it’s not a large block. [/QUOTE] Same here. The Post Office is pretty fussy about addresses. What’s being interpolated by the mapping is where along the block any given address is. A building at 650 Any Street is not necessarily going to be exactly halfway down the block, but the mapping will assume that it is halfway between 6th and 7th. ---
**Author:** ![suranyi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e36b37/32.png) [@suranyi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/suranyi)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2009, 3:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/google-street-view-real-time-or-what/491925/63 "2009-04-07T15:59:44Z")
> [@gotpasswords](#): > > Same here. The Post Office is pretty fussy about addresses. > > What’s being interpolated by the mapping is where along the block any given address is. A building at 650 Any Street is not necessarily going to be exactly halfway down the block, but the mapping will assume that it is halfway between 6th and 7th. Right, the point is that most non-commercial mapping software doesn’t use postcodes, it uses house numbers, which are not nearly so precise. Especially since they are interpolated. Ed ---
**Author:** ![Sycorax](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a4c791/32.png) [@Sycorax](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sycorax)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2009, 4:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/google-street-view-real-time-or-what/491925/64 "2009-04-07T16:56:39Z")
I put in my childhood house address in Washington, D. C., and street view took me right to it. (The place looks much better than when I lived there!) Maybe they do more detail and updating with certain cities and major metro areas. ---
**Author:** ![Rayne\_Man](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/df705f/32.png) [@Rayne\_Man](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rayne_Man)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2009, 6:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/google-street-view-real-time-or-what/491925/65 "2009-04-07T18:52:46Z")
The BBC have found a new use for Google Street View. This time to give “before and after” views of the streets caught up in yesterday’s Italian earthquake. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2009, 8:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/google-street-view-real-time-or-what/491925/66 "2009-04-07T20:00:27Z")
> [@](#): > > The BBC have found a new use for Google Street View. This time to give “before and after” views of the streets caught up in yesterday’s Italian earthquake. Yeah, a few weeks ago there was a big gas explosion downtown here (only one person killed, fortunately), and the only “before” pictures anyone could find of the affected buildings were from Google Street View. ---
**Author:** ![Jake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f475e1/32.png) [@Jake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jake)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2009, 12:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/google-street-view-real-time-or-what/491925/67 "2009-04-08T00:05:07Z")
> [@Mr Bus Guy](#): > > In an ironically well-timed coincidence, [this](http://www.informationweek.com/news/internet/google/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=216402758&subSection=Privacy) was in the news today. They were photographing _houses_, not people. I think it’s great to be able to see a picture of a neighborhood before moving in there. Do they date the photos? ---
**Author:** ![SciFiSam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/47e85d/32.png) [@SciFiSam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SciFiSam)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2009, 12:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/google-street-view-real-time-or-what/491925/68 "2009-04-08T00:38:22Z")
> [@gotpasswords](#): > > Same here. The Post Office is pretty fussy about addresses. > > What’s being interpolated by the mapping is where along the block any given address is. A building at 650 Any Street is not necessarily going to be exactly halfway down the block, but the mapping will assume that it is halfway between 6th and 7th. > [@suranyi](#): > > Right, the point is that most non-commercial mapping software doesn’t use postcodes, it uses house numbers, which are not nearly so precise. Especially since they are interpolated. > > Ed Then how come I can use Googe and Streetview by typing in the postcode? If I type in my postcode but with only the last letter different, it takes me to that address. A postcode here covers a maximum of eighty addresses, but in practice it’s usually far fewer than that. Mine covers only my building, which is the width of a two-bedroom flat. Mind you, I’ve never been clear about what exactly a ‘block’ is in the US, despite hearing it so often in movies and the like - how big would most people consider a block to be? ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2009, 1:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/google-street-view-real-time-or-what/491925/69 "2009-04-08T01:08:06Z")
> [@](#): > > Mind you, I’ve never been clear about what exactly a ‘block’ is in the US, despite hearing it so often in movies and the like - how big would most people consider a block to be? A block is the distance from one intersection to the next along a street, and how long it is therefore depends on the street, the neighborhood, and other factors. A furlong or so is a not-uncommon standard, to the extent that there is a standard. It can also be a unit of area rather than distance, referring to the region one can walk to without crossing any streets (which also, of course, varies). ---
**Author:** ![SciFiSam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/47e85d/32.png) [@SciFiSam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SciFiSam)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2009, 1:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/google-street-view-real-time-or-what/491925/70 "2009-04-08T01:24:14Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > A block is the distance from one intersection to the next along a street, and how long it is therefore depends on the street, the neighborhood, and other factors. A furlong or so is a not-uncommon standard, to the extent that there is a standard. It can also be a unit of area rather than distance, referring to the region one can walk to without crossing any streets (which also, of course, varies). Thanks. I had to look up furlong, though - I know the word, of course (mainly from horse racing), but have never been quite certain how long that is either. I think that would mean that the usual distance covered by a UK postcode is significantly less than a furlong, so there wouldn’t be a problem with where on the block that postcode refers to. Perhaps the same applies in densely-populated areas of the US - otherwise postcodes wouldn’t be terribly useful. ---
**Author:** ![Lust4Life](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/ecc23a/32.png) [@Lust4Life](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lust4Life)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2009, 10:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/google-street-view-real-time-or-what/491925/71 "2009-04-08T10:40:13Z")
I was absaloutley LIVID when Google caught me masturbating in a public park while dressed as a nun. I think Google have invaded my privacy and denied me my Human rights,the bastards. ---
**Author:** ![Colophon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f05b48/32.png) [@Colophon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colophon)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2009, 11:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/google-street-view-real-time-or-what/491925/72 "2009-04-08T11:01:44Z")
> [@scifisam2009](#): > > I think that would mean that the usual distance covered by a UK postcode is significantly less than a furlong, so there wouldn’t be a problem with where on the block that postcode refers to. Perhaps the same applies in densely-populated areas of the US - otherwise postcodes wouldn’t be terribly useful. Postcodes in the UK vary a lot in the area they cover. In cities they can relate to a single building, out in the wilds of Scotland a single code often covers scattered buildings spread across dozens of square miles. In my suburban neighbourhood, only two postcodes cover the whole of my street, which has 90 houses. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/google-street-view-real-time-or-what/491925.md?page=3)