There’s never a shortage of controversy surrounding Google Street View. Even if you think the service is useful and/or cool to look at, you have to admit there’s something creepy about Google cars driving around countries collecting these data with cameras mounted on the roof. And it appears that someone in Germany had just about enough of that.
Police are investigating an incident in Oldenburg, Germany where a parked Google Street View car was vandalized overnight (in German
– rough English translation). Apparently, the perpetrator let the air out of the car’s tires and also cut a wire that hooks the roof-mounted camera up with the inside of the car. It seems that nothing was stolen from the car, and none of the equipment on the outside was even taken. So it would seem this is clearly just a sign of protest against Google.
And actually, the person who did the act was nice enough to leave a note on the windshield of the car letting the driver know that the air was let out of the tires (not to mention that they only let the air out, rather than slashing them). Those techie protestors are quite considerate. Well, at least more considerate than Google protestors.
Tipped off by friends, two Norwegian pranksters dressed as scuba divers chased after a Google Street View car in Norway.
The pair were spotted on Street View this week after Google updated its Maps for Norway recently. The pranksters can be seen sitting on chairs dressed in scuba gear as the car passes and then chasing after the car with pitchforks.
Norwegian news outlet Oslo daily Aftenposten tracked down the pair who revealed the stunt. “This was not done to hurt anyone. It was all an innocent joke,” stated prankster Borre Erstad. To see the pranksters on Google Street View, click here.
Someone using Google’s Street View map may be surprised when looking down Pittsburgh’s Sampsonia Way.
In May, artists Ben Kinsley and Robin Hewlett staged outlandish scenes, including a 17th century sword fight, and an escape from a building using knotted sheets, to be captured when a Google car equipped with cameras was sent down Sampsonia Way.
The artists wanted to explore the boundaries between virtual and real worlds.
We’ve heard of people getting upset when their picture shows up on Google Street View (the street-level picture you can zoom into from Google Maps). For this reason, Google blurs out people’s faces for privacy. Others have protested Google coming down their street to photograph their house (cough, Paul McCartney
). But can Google Street View also be used as a marketing vehicle?
Nate Heagy thinks so. He went to great lengths to follow a Google Street View vehicle and anticipate its movements so that he could set up a sign in its path and start playing a guitar so that he could promote his band, Fear Salesman. Well, he is now on Google Street View. Heagy explains how he executed his bold plan:
Last spring, . . . I hatched a plan to promote my indie band. After making a sign and keeping it in the trunk of my car for about a month I finally chanced across the google street view car. Then I had to follow it until I figured out its pattern, then get ahead of it with time to set up.
There is only one problem. His picture was taken in the middle of nowhere. Not only is it in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan (which is in Canada, for all you geography majors out there). It is on a random residential street in Saskatoon that maybe five people will ever look up. Until now, I guess. Damn you, Heagy!How
