What Google does at local level in the States is inevitably rolled out later in the UK and elsewhere. That being so, you might want to consider a facelift for your frontage if Google Maps new “street view” is anything to go by.
Just launched on the US Google Maps site, street view takes the viewpoint out of the satellite and plonks the user on the street itself. Panoramic 360-degree photo images places the user literally on the sidewalk to wander round selected streets in New York, Denver, Miami, Las Vegas and San Francisco.
Arguably, this may be the safest way to walk the streets in these cities. But should Google decide to extend the Street View service further, we can expect similar functionality for UK cities to follow. Just look out for an early morning photographer armed with a tripod and panoramic camera snapping his or her way up the street where you live.
This, for example, is the view looking south from the centre of New York's Brooklyn Bridge carriageway. And follow this link to pound the streets immediately outside the Plaza Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas.
Presumably, the next move for Google is to charge advertisers to allow users to enter their premises from street view, browse the aisles of the advertiser’s virtual store and purchase goods by simply clicking on them. Whatever the outlook for street view, exploring the world from the comfort of your desk chair has reached a new dimension.
Web site owners now need to consider how best to respond. But until we know where, when and if street view is coming to the UK, there’s not much that can be done except be forewarned.
