Street Views in Google Maps has caused controversy since the day it was introduced. In all honesty it freaks a lot of people out and rightly so. Do you want people looking up your driveway? Of course you don’t. But it’s here, been here and will probably stay here unless your town bans it (which has happened).
The two "worst" states that have the Eye of Google upon them are Florida and California. These two places appear to have the most coverage compared to the rest of Google Maps in the United States portion of the North American continent.
Here’s a Google Map showing this (as well as most of the rest of the USA):
The pecking order goes from south to north with very heavy concentration on metropolitan areas. Going from east to west, more concentration is placed on the east.
Concerning Florida in particular, this is what I have to report. (This is a small indicator of what will happen as more coverage appears in other states):
It is nothing short of shocking how fast Google is putting in Street Views data into the system concerning the Sunshine State. Almost all of Tampa Bay is covered at this point as well as pretty much all the other major metros such as Orlando, Fort Lauderdale, Gainesville, Jacksonville, Miami and even the keys on the southernmost point.
The good: You can sightsee all the major hot spots in FL easily.
The bad: It also includes all the residential roads. Being that most homes in these areas aren’t set back on the properties, everything is in plain view for anyone who wants to look.
As anyone who has used Google Maps with Street Views knows, yes, you can get photos of someone’s porch all too easily.
My recommendation to anyone who owns a home that is not set back on the property is to periodically check Google Maps to see if your home is in plain sight on the internet. If it is, report it to Google and request it removed.
How to request an image to be removed from Google Maps Street Views:
- Go to Google Maps and load up your address.
- Pick the Street View option so the Street View image appears.
- In the "speech bubble" for the image, click Street View Help.
- Click Report inappropriate image.
Follow the dots from there.
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I don’t get why people go nuts over this. Does it really matter? What makes it worse then google earth, or a GPS system map.
Google Earth also has Street Views so it’s just as “bad” as Google Maps.
GPS does not show people’s porches, faces or any other personally identifiable information (ex: GPS will not give you the name for any residential property).
“The bad: It also includes all the residential roads. Being that most homes in these areas aren’t set back on the properties, everything is in plain view for anyone who wants to look.
As anyone who has used Google Maps with Street Views knows, yes, you can get photos of someone’s porch all too easily.”
This is very true. I once described a friend’s house and surrounding property in detail to her over IM. I had never been to her house before, so she was certainly surprised.
However, most residential areas viewable in Street View don’t have any people in them, so I don’t see how this can be a privacy invasion, unless you have stuff sitting on your front lawn that you don’t want anybody to see.
I wish they would have told me what day they were coming, I would have washed the truck and mowed the grass!!