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Google Street View is coming to South Africa and it seems people are unsure if they should be terrified or excited.

In an effort to make some sense of the issue, I’ve decided to write a few words on the following :

1. What is Street View and how does Google create it?
2. What are the privacy concerns surrounding Google Street View?
3. A personal perspective on privacy.

What is Google Street View?

Google Street View is an extension of the very popular Google Maps.
It allows users to ‘go down to street level’ and see what it looks like at a particular spot on a map.

Broken down to its simplest building block, it consists of interactive panoramic images placed on the exact spot they were taken from. (Or in tech jargon: geo-located, interactive,  immersive imaging.)

These images become extremely informative and powerful because Google has created the ability to generate hundreds of thousands of them, each +- 10 m from the next.

Strung together, the panoramic images allow you to take a virtual walk or drive down a street in New York, London, and soon, Cape Town and Johannesburg.

It allows the user to experience and interact with a place/location while sitting behind a computer. Like such:

How does Google capture the Street View images?

Google started out licensing the panoramic content from a company called Immersive Media. Immersive Media actually captured 360 degree video and the extracted frames from the video to create their panoramic images.
Google and Immersive Media have since parted ways and Google has built their own camera system, which can be seen mounted on top of a Toyota Prius in this picture:

google-street-view-south-africa

Not much is known about the particular specs for the current Street View cameras, but the basic principle is to have  a bunch of fairly wide angled lenses pointing in different directions.

A GPS unit then triggers the cameras to take a shot at specified distances and the resulting images are stitched together to create a spherical panorama.

(Off course it’s a bit more technical than that and we can be sure that lasers are used to gather very accurate data about the landscape and buildings and that they might even be taking 360 degree video in the process …. but that’s a topic for another post.)

What are the privacy concerns surrounding Google Street View?

Most of the ‘arguments’ put forward on the internet  fall into three categories:

1. People aggrieved by the fact that they are captured in places they don’t want other people to know they were.

- the guy passed out on the street after a heavy night out
- the women going to a shelter/center for domestic abuse
- the man entering the sex shop  (by the way: these are all referring to real examples)

2.  People feeling the privacy of their homes/neighbourhoods are intruded upon:

- some are uncomfortable about the idea of the whole world being able to ’drive down their street’
- others feel that “the government could see the books on their shelves” and use the information to discriminate against them (as reported in this New York Times post)

3. People worried about criminals using the imagery to plan crimes.

- scanning a street for houses with ’security vulnerebilities’
- seeing toys in the drive way could give them clues about the fact that there are children living in the house

My take on the privacy concerns:

To be honest, I was quite disappointed to see the weak arguments against Google Street View put forward on several blogs and particular in mainstream media.

People were quoted as saying silly things like: “What if they make it real time? “  – without reporters pointing out that it’s impossible.

Also, being afraid of a static image that might capture the books on your shelves, while Google and your Internet service provider can track almost every site you visit on the Internet is a bit … let’s say : unbalanced.
Add to that the fact that most major cities have almost every square inch covered with CCTV camera’s and that there are in fact people in dark rooms looking at satellite images of much higher quality  than Google Earth, then most of the arguments seem to fall flat.

Public space is public space and when you decide to visit an adult books store in a public space, you should know that there is the risk that someone might see or capture you – manage your risk and handle the responsibility that comes with your right to freedom of association.

In short, if you don’t want to get captured passed out on the side walk – don’t get passed out on the side walk.

Yes, it is your right to pass out on a (public) side walk, but if you do so – be a grown up and take responsibility for exercising that right.

That been said …… as a question of law and ethics, there is always the guideline of what a ‘reasonable man’ (or woman) would do or would expect in a specific situation and it is here where Google does overstep a very sacred boundary.

Yes, they try and blur the faces of people and number plates in the pictures and do have a ‘report this picture’ on every image as well, but I do feel that they could and should go a decent, lets say reasonable, step further.

I’ll take myself as an example to illustrate:
I have the privilege of living in a ‘leafy neigbourhood’. Our house does not have a wall around it (another privilege), but we’re lucky enough to have a row of large trees on the boundry of the property.
The effect is that although you can see into my bedroom from the road, you can only do so from one or two specific places and even then, you’ll have to be 3 meters tall.

Because I know this and am a reasonably lazy man, I simply take a quick peak through the window before I change my clothes or jump into the shower.
Although there are usually some cars driving by, there is no way anybody will be able to see me or take a picture of me if they don’t stop at exactly the right spot and have a high definition, quick firing camera elevated to about 3 meters.

Being a reasonable man, I know that no-one would do that…..

Except – that is exactly what Google Street View does and it can leave a reasonable man, like myself, in a difficult position.

So – I am of opinion that Street View can be intrusive and that there is some merit to those who feel their privacy is at stake. The solution though is not to throw the proverbial baby out with the bath water and and ban Google Street View, it’s simply to let people like me know that Google will be driving down my street with an ‘unreasonably’ high-end camera today.

Two arguments against this suggestion are:

1. It is practically and financially impossible to contact everyone in a neighbourhood before you move through.
Well, that is Google’s problem and I’m sure they can find a solution if we ‘ask’ them to do so.
Putting up notice boards informing residents will go a long way and allow Google to engage with local real estate agencies – which will be mutually benificial in the long run anyway.

2. It does not ‘protect’ me when I’m in a public place other than my neigbourhood street, because I don’t need or want to keep track of where Google is drving today.
In the odd case that you are ‘caught’ doing something you would not want others to see, first, grow up and take responsibility, and secondly, as soon as Google Maps releases Street View, go check out every strip club and adult book store to see if you were captured – and flag the image so that Google knows you take offense – they will take it down.

In summary….

I’m of the opinion that Google Street View is a MARVELOUS innovation.
That it’s a great tool to enhance industries like tourism and real estate.

That South Africans should be excited at the opportunity of showcasing our beauty and diversity to the world and that we’ll finally be able to prove that there are in fact no lions in the streets.

I am also of the opinion that Google could have and should go through a bit more trouble to engage with local communities and respect their privacy by disclosing exactly what they are doing and when they plan to do it.
It is the right thing to do and they will get a great return on investment in terms of word of mounth marketing and even greater uptake in terms of the use of Google Maps.

In the mean time, I promise to draw my curtains when changing clothes…. the public has rights too, you know.

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South Africa is getting itself ready for the 2010 Soccer World Cup and all around the country we see magnificent new sport stadiums rising in preparation for what promises to be a spectacle of note.

Seeing that Virtual Africa has had the privilege to shoot quite a few of the existing (and even a few of the new) stadiums, we thought it to be a good time to write a few posts on some of our brilliant sporting facilities.
This then is our series on: South African Sport Stadiums in 360º.

First up is my personal favourite: NEWLANDS RUGBY STADIUM

Above we have a Google Map with integrated 360º virtual tours of both the rugby and cricket stadiums -two of the most majestic and historic sports grounds in the world.

Seeing that it’s winter, we zoomed in on Newlands Rugby, but simply pan a block to the South to find the cricket stadium – with some 360º virtual tours of its own.

Instructions:
1. Click on the icons in the map to see 360º images
2. then on the ‘Go Full Screen’ link to see the good stuff.
3. zoom out to explore 360º images of the rest of Cape Town
4. click on the ‘ShareThis” button below to share the map with your online community
5. subscribe to receive a notification of our next post, Greenpoint Stadium

For a bigger version of this map, click on Google Maps in the top menu bar of this site.

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We’re proud to release the first version of our new South African map.

It includes about 1000 scenic virtual tours – each with a link to a beautiful full screen version of itself.

Click on “Google Maps” in the menu bar to access the map and see if we have a pano of your town, or favourite South African spot.

Google Map of South Africa

It’s still a ‘beta’ (which means we’re not sure if it’s unbreakable)  so have a look and let us know what you think.

We’ll be adding some features in the weeks to come.

Any idea’s, suggestions or songs of praise will be accepted and appreciated.

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In the past 20 days, more than 400 South Africans came to our site because they were searching for information on Google Maps.

We know this, not because we have great contacts in government, but through the very effective (and very free) Google Analytics.

Now although we spend most of our time creating virtual tours and other interactive images, we do know quite a lot about Google Maps.

We help clients embed Google Maps into their own sites, we try and make cool interactive maps of interesting places and we experiment with things like the Google Earth plugin.

Thus, seeing that we know a few things about Maps, and so many people come to our site because they seek more information on the topic, we thought we’d try and help… with the GOOGLE MAPS FAQ post.

You are invited to ask any question related to Google Maps or Google Earth by leaving a comment below and we will try and answer as best we can.

If it’s a good question, we’ll add it to this post.

That’s the plan, here are a few questions, answers, tips and links to get you started:

1. Google Maps of South Africa: click here
- we’ve created a map which centers on South Africa – just for you.

2. Google Maps Official Home Page: http://maps.google.com/
- unfortunately the home page is not centered on South Africa

3. How do I use Google Maps?
-  as with all things IT, you need to play to learn, so go here and see if you can find your house
-  for more information go to the official Google Maps online manual.

4. Are there any limitations to Google Maps in South Africa?
-  Yes, unfortunately we are a bit behind our brothers and sisters over the waters
-  American and European users have access to great features like

-  The good news for South Africans: none of these features are workable without detail street map data and this is why we’re   so excited about the recent update to Google’s South African street maps – it paves the way for the cool stuff!

5. How do I put my own content/information/pictures on Google Maps
-  It’s easier than you might think, simply follow this video tutorial and use the ‘My Maps’ section on the Google Maps Home Page.
-  Be nice and share your creation with us by posting the URL (link) in the comments section.

- Virtual Africa

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{Update: Go here for more information on Google Maps of South Africa}

In the same week that the tickets for the 2010 Soccer World Cup went on sale, Google blessed us with a significant update to their coverage of South Africa.

Coincidence? Well, who knows?

We’ve been hearing rumors and seeing some nice updates to the satellite imagery, but rumors are just that and photographic updates do come by once in a while anyway.

The type of updates to the ‘maps’ section of Google Maps (as opposed to the ’satellite’ section), indicates something completely different in terms of Google’s intent.
It paves the way for Streetview, transit maps, and a multitude of very cool mobile applications – all of which we were unable to use in South Africa because of the low detail levels of Google Maps of the country.

The first two improvements we picked up were:

  • National Parks have been marked
    • This looks particularly cool, because you are suddenly reminded about the fact that South Africa has put aside huge pieces of land for conservation.
  • The detail is really impressive
    • I tested this by going to one of the roads I had the most difficulty to find – ever!
    • We had a very difficult time trying to find the gravel road which leads to the mysterious Lake Fundudzi in the Limpopo Province.
    • If Google put that road in, it would be a good indication of the detail level and accuracy of the maps

Click on the icons on the map to view the panoramic pictures we took at Lake Fundudzi and zoom out to explore 1500 more such images of South Africa.

If you have a look at the shots we took of the gravel road, you’ll understand why it’s impressive that this road made it to a map at all.

For South Africans who like putting 360º images of interesting places on interactive maps it looks like a very early Christmas indeed.

I’m sure we’ll find some more updates as we play along, but if you find something before we do, please drop us a note in the ‘comments’ section.

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