Street View hits Boston

Google Maps has been working on its Street View enhancement for quite some time. This new way to look at maps allows you to virtually walk or drive down a street. Google had people out on the roads in Boston for the past year filming the streets as they are. You can turn 360 degrees and move forward and back along the roadway. The enhancements have been somewhat controversial, as mentioned in yesterday's Boston Globe:

But it drew howls of protests from privacy advocates when it was launched last May in San Francisco, where people complained about everything from photos of recognizable men entering adult bookstores to an image of a cat in a window.

Regarding the above comment, c'mon... People would see it on the street, so what's the difference? There are many things that are worse [in my mind] than walking into an adult bookstore. Alas, I digress...

We are more than 40 miles outside of Boston, so I naturally assumed we would not get to see our house in this cool new rollout. Au contraire, mon frere! Our part of Northborough was in the coverage area! Our section of street was not driven (though all the streets around us are, which is strange) but you can see our house from the exit ramp off I-290 if you face the right way.

The image I've included below shows what you see on Google Maps; click the View Larger Map link to see more on their site. The streets outlined in blue have street view coverage. You can look at the street view by clicking the button of that name in the upper right corner of the page. To move around the map, click on the arrows on the road or just drag and drop the guy to a new location. To turn, either drag the image or use the curved arrows on the left. You can also look up into the sky by dragging the image.


View Larger Map

Cool, huh?!