Nick brought my attention to a new (to me, anyway) wonder on Google Maps. Seems you can type in an address and you will be taken to that exact street–with a close-up view of buildings, houses, etc. Now, I’m not talking about satellite images. I’m talking about Wow-That’s-In-Front-Of-My-House technology. Seriously, I typed in my own address and I saw my house, the pine trees out front, my drive, the two cars in the driveway…Then I typed in Canal Street in New Orleans, and I got a close up view of every building there.
Nick told me this program is called “Street View”–and that a car drove around the area, with 6 (7 ?) cameras on top of it to get all the images to upload. So now, if you go to Google Maps and use the Street View program, you can literally (and pretty close to perfectly) see streets and buildings and landmarks, etc. Now, not all cities are on the Street View program–but the major ones are.
Wanna see what I’m talking about? Here’s Poydras Street in New Orleans, LA. To see another place, just type in the address you want to view. A map will pop up, filled with blue lines–those lines are streets you can see. Just click on the little computer image of a person to move him up and down the streets–and to change your view to see more.
Interesting technology. As a writer, I love this. I can see places now and get great descriptions for said places without leaving the comfort of my little black office chair. But, from a non-writing point of view, this technology creeps me out a bit. The idea that any person can type in my address and get an up-close view of my house–complete with window and door count. Hmmm…not sure about that.
What do you think? Are Street Views something you like? Or, um, maybe not?
In other news…I’m blogging over at The Bradford Bunch today about the RWA Blues.
And I’m having a crisis! ACK! When I opened my laptop this morning, about twenty ants crawled out from under my keys. So now I’m freaking and worrying that ants are inside my computer, slowly destroying everything. I must go back up files! Damn ants.