You can now visit HitSearch at Google maps Street View. The long awaited expansion into the European countries has gathered pace with major cities in the UK & The Netherlands getting street view imagery (plus a rather pleasant section of rural Norfolk).

This expansion will doubtlessly be followed by countries such as Germany meaning the a foothold in Europe has firmly been established. This will allow Google to gain ground on Live Maps who's Birdseye view aerial mapping was seen as a useful substitute for the Street Level images.

The actual imagery was gathered last sumer with Street View cars being spotting around Liverpool by HitSearch staff. The roll out allows you to explore this virtual Liverpool as it was for the Capital of Culture celebrations.

One interesting point arose whilst looking at the images of Liverpool's famous Hope Street with it's Cathedrals at either end. It would seem that QANTAS had a helicopter trailing an advert around that day in a possibly deliberate attempt to get onto the Google Street View imagery or possibly just a happy coincidence for the airline (QANTAS don't fly from Liverpool John Lennon Airport).