They’re Googlemapping the bike paths where I live right now.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kzlL79v-0yU&feature=player_embedded#!
On my Droid (cell phone powered by Google) if I use the GPS when a get to about a block from my final location it displays an image of the destination.
There are actually several companies that have the intention of eventually driving every single street in the whole world (starting with the most important countries, e.g. the U.S. and Western Europe) in order to gather the infomation necessay for the more-and-more sophisticated mapping and navigation systems that are out there. Google is only the best known .
What’s great is they recently went through the whole of the UK, so you get to see a whole bunch of quaint English towns in sunny weather.
Here’s a lucky shot.
I have a lot of fun looking at potential locations for our little film shoots, or using it as a guide when I visit someone.
You’re just now freaking out about this? I remember freaking out a few years ago when I saw my mom’s car parked in the driveway using Googlemaps. I use it quite a bit. It’s a wonderful tool.
Sorry to be pedantic, but Google Maps is two words.
Looks like they’ve added a lot of theme parks recently. You can wander through Universal parks in Orlando and Alton Towers in the UK.
‘Google’ and ‘maps’ are two words.
Getting freaked out by Google’s Street View is soooo 2007. Also, what rock and/or cave have you been living under/in?
What’s really cool is now Google is also starting to do “street” view for theme parks. Here’s Alton Towers, for example.
So * that’s * where I lost them!
Where I live in the Portland, OR a whole bunch of city and county agencies get together and pay a company to take aerial photos of the entire metro area annually.
The data is later shared with Google (or anyone else willing to pay a few $$$ for it). Sharing GIS data is the way of the future - I mean Google itself puts it out for free. So I doubt Google rarely is ever hires many airplanes/satellites themselves, as other agencies already are taking the pictures.
Eventually, people are not going to want old street level pics. It seems like Google should just get volunteers to install a camera/GPS on the car and then have regular people drive around during their normal lives taking updated pictures the whole time. Fed Ex or UPS trucks would be great for that.
They also covered some of the ski slopes and other areas around the Winter Olympics venue.
That’s soo 10 minutes ago.
Their vans have been spotted here so I think they’re just still collating the information.
Sounds like a great revenue source for the USPS. Imagine getting the Street View updated every day.
I like the Bird’s Eye View in Bing Maps where it is available. It is much more useful than a regular aerial view and sometimes more useful than the Street View. Sometimes it is hard to spot the store you want to go to from the street view.
It’s obviously a Vogon constructor ship, cunningly disguised as a pair of side-cutters.
Google Street View photographed our house during some renovations, so there’s a portable toilet immortalized on our front lawn.
I’ve long thought the logical next step is Google Backpack, covering every hiking trail and shortcut in the world. I see I’m not too far off. 
Holy shit! There’s another me, in the state I used to live.