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Telegraph: Would Google Street face legal problems in the UK25th April 2008 4:17 pm Google Maps Claudine Beaumont, Digital Channel Editor for The Telegraph has written an article musing on whether Google Street would be able to launch in the UK without facing legal challenges from those who are captured by their roaming camera cars. “How would you feel if you Googled your home address and were confronted with a picture that showed you watering your flowers? Or standing bleary-eyed at the kitchen window, drinking a cup of tea? What would your reaction be if you Googled the details of a marriage guidance office, and up popped a picture of an unsuspecting couple leaving the therapy centre? Would you consider such photos intrusive - an invasion of privacy, even? In the US, search giant Google has embarked on an ambitious project to photograph all the roads in major cities. Specially equipped vans drive through quiet suburbs and bustling towns, snapping pictures using the multi-lens camera mounted on their roof. These pictures are then added to Google Maps, creating a service known as Street View, in which users can Google an address or intersection and see panoramic photographs of that road. So far, around 32 US cities have been photographed by the Street View vans. These mobile units stick strictly to public streets, but that hasn’t stopped the service, which launched in 2007, attracting widespread criticism. One New Yorker, Mary Kalin-Casey, contacted the BoingBoing technology blog to complain that when she Googled her address, a detailed picture of her house popped up, showing her tabby cat standing at the window of her home. “I’m all for mapping, but this feature literally gives me the shakes,” she told the site. “I feel like I need to close all my curtains now.” Even the Pentagon has fallen victim to Google’s long lens. The US military asked Google to remove pictures of the Fort Sam Houston army base in Texas. Photographs of the base taken from the public highway showed the exact position of guards, control points, barriers, and security facilities and posed “a risk to our force protection efforts”, according to a spokesman for the US Northern Command. Although Google will not comment on plans to launch the Street View service outside of the United States, it is likely that it will come to the UK at some point - and that will open a whole can of worms where privacy laws are concerned, says one leading lawyer. “The question is whether these Street View pictures would be considered personal data,” says Rosemary Jay, a lawyer with Pinsent Masons specialising in data protection, human rights and freedom of information law. “We need to separate those circumstances where what is photographed shows someone doing something sensitive, personal or private, and those circumstances where it doesn’t. “In those circumstances where it does show somebody doing something personal or private, then privacy litigation and data protection laws would kick in, and I think you could look for protection.” The problem, says Jay, is convincing the courts, or the Information Commissioner’s Office, which deals with issues pertaining to the Data Protection Act, that an offence has actually been committed. Read her full article here : Google Street View would face uk legal test BBC Radio 4 employs Google Maps as part of it’s nature output12th March 2008 11:31 am Google Maps To complement a series it’s running on animal migration BBC Radio 4 has constructed a series of google maps allowing users to track the progress of several animals as they begin their seasonal migration http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/worldonthemove/ Amongst others Atlantic salmon, Greenland white-fronted goose, gray whales & African elephants all have their own dedicated map and users can participate in the project by adding sightings of the various species. Pentagon ask Google Maps to remove images of military installations7th March 2008 6:08 pm Google Maps Reuters reporting an agreement has been reached between the US government and Google over images of military bases appearing on their Google Maps : Google Inc has complied with a request by the Pentagon to remove some online images from its street-level map service because they pose a security threat to U.S. military bases, military and company officials said on Thursday. Gen. Gene Renuart, head of the military command responsible for homeland defense, said the Pentagon had talked to Google about the risks and expected the company to cooperate in removing selected images from its Street View service. “We have been contacted by the military,” Google spokesman Larry Yu said. “In those instances where they (the U.S military) have expressed concerns about the imagery, we have accommodated their requests.” The Defense Department, which is still studying how many images are available, has also banned Google teams from taking video images on bases. “We’ve got to get a sense of what is there and see how we can mitigate it,” Renuart said. But because many images were taken from public streets, the military may not have a legal right to request that videos be pulled. Street View, a feature of Google Maps, offers ground-level, 360-degree views of streets in 30 U.S. cities. Web users are able to drive down a street, in a virtual sense, using their mouse to adjust views of roadside scenery. Liverpool 08 : Google maps let’s us Hit Search for the SuperLambBanana28th February 2008 4:41 pm Google Maps Capital of Culture is upon us here in Liverpool and amongst the various things that are happening is a massive public art exhibition featuring 100 of the city’s much loved (and much derided) SuperLambBananas.
For the un-initiated the SuperLambBanana is a large sculpture by Japanese artist Taro Chiezo that has lived in the city for the past 10 years. This Merseyside wide public art invasion will be staged throughout the 08 Capital of Culture year. Visitors and Residents (Hit Search employees included) are encouraged search for the sculptures and report their sitings. The local newspaper, The Liverpool Echo, is recording the locations on a google map so that more people can get out and see them. Exhibitions like this provide a great backdrop for the cities year in the spotlight. Other similar highlights on Liverpool’s streets & public spaces include Banksy’s giant rat mural up on Berry Street (just next to the city’s chinatown archway), the excellent Turning the Place Over near Old Hall Street CBD, The Mersey Wave in the south of the city and the much treasured “Another Place” Gormleys statues on Crosby Beach in the north. Turning the Place Over by Richard Wilson : YouChoose brings us online interactive nominations mashup8th February 2008 12:43 pm Google Maps The dedicated US Presidential elections YouTube channel “YouChoose” is flagging up a lot of interest in the aftermath of Super Tuesday as they offer the chance for Candidate and YouTubers from all over the US to add videos to their Google map allowing voters to scan for both local and national content. “We want to show the nation and the world what the primaries are like from a voter’s-eye-view, so bring your video camera along with you and give an on-the-ground view of your local primary. You can also add your own commentary or interviews with people just after the primaries, offering their reflections on what took place.” “we’re looking for videos as varied and creative as you can create. Here are some other ideas:
The true value of Google Maps24th October 2007 8:05 am Google Maps Jess Lee, Product Manager of Google Maps produced a blogpost on the official Google site that really does open your eyes to the true value of a online mapping system. The devastating wildfires in Southern California have burned more than 373,000 acres of land; 350,000 homes have been evacuated. Lots of people have pulled together to make maps with information about the fires, including the burn zones, evacuation alerts, evacuation centres, safe areas, and closed roads. Below is an an example of one of the most widely-used fire maps in Google Maps. We hope everyone is safe and that relief comes soon. Subscribe To Our RSS Feed! 
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