Google sent a photo-snapping car onto several families' private driveways to get shots of their homes:

[www.thesmokinggun.com]

One family sued and got the pictures of their home removed from Google's servers. Looks like another family may have to as well.

I had no idea that Google would dispatch a car to get shots of a home. I thought all the photos were from a satellite. You learn in Journalism 101 not to step on private property when collecting info for a story.

Here in Wisconsin it's called trespassing. Google removed pics of my home at my request. No suit required.

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I'm not a bad guy! I work hard, and I love my kids. So why should I spend half my Sunday hearing about how I'm going to Hell? -Homer.

Idiots.

The people who complain about the Google pics from public streets are whiners, but driving into private property is just stupid. What kind of morans are they contracting this work to?

Wow!

I've never looked at Google maps Streetview before.

They have my whole neighborhood done!

And there is a strange car in my driveway? I will need to talk to the wife about that? It looks like they did it in about late Sept or early Oct.

That is amazing!

JPK

I don't know that much of Google's imagery is from satellite pictures. A lot of it is from airplanes.

The Street View is from their vehicles driving around.

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I am that Masked Man.

All you can do, is all you can do.

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An armed society is a polite society.
And hope is a lousy defense.

You make me pull, I'll put you down.

I *love* SIGs. It's Glocks I hate.

I love the street view. Really loving the new Terrain view too. Love the mobile version on the phone. Google had me at hello. Google isn't the only online mapping site with photos of our houses btw.

Is street view available in Google Earth as well?

i dunno, looked like it could have been a street to me?

it did have a separate name...

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Edited 999 time(s). Last edit at 12:08PM by jdc.

Quote
ajakeski
Here in Wisconsin it's called trespassing. Google removed pics of my home at my request. No suit required.

Did they step or drive on to your property? If not, they did not trespass and had every right to photograph your home.

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[picasaweb.google.com] [www.flickr.com]

I draw street maps for a living. It's often very difficult, when you're in the field, to tell a shared driveway from a private street from a public street. People put up official looking street signs for driveways, and many people have addresses on private streets. In other places, public "streets" may be pedestrian walkways or stairways. I spend a huge amount of time trying to determine whether a driveable path should be considered a "street," and if so, what its proper name is.

It may vary from state to state but, as I recall (from summers working for my dad's surveying firm), anything beyond the sidewalk (towards the house) was private property (though few realized that most utility companies retained a 5-foot right-of-way for access along the back property line in most subdivisions and, as such, retained the right to cross your property to access said area). There was also the matter of how you could say your property was private but, if you used electricity or gas, the companies retained the right to go onto your property for service, maintenance, and meter reading with or without your permission. Not to mention that the sewer department has the right to dig up your right of way (the area between the sidewalk and the street) to access piping with or without your permission and retains the right for "reasonable overage" if equipment needs to go on your property to access such piping.

So private property in that regard can be a bit of a grey area.

And as far as the street thing goes, Mr Downtown nails it. But if it is a private drive, in most states (IIRC) require that you label it as such or it is not considered a trespassing incident (especially in light of them having official looking street signs, as he notes).

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Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 04/08/2008 11:38AM by Zoidberg.

Mr Downtown: You should just name the ones you don't know after yourself and your family members. Then since it is on the map, it will be true. ;)

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Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 04/08/2008 11:40AM by $tevie.

$tevie - I hope to be able to do something like that myself one day. I always swore if I bought property up here (Arkansas, which is "up" compared to my hometown of Metairie/New Orleans) I'd name the main street Tchopitoulas, which is a street in the 12th Ward, just to throw the locals off in their endless trouble pronouncing things.

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Tough to tell if that's a private driveway or a small public road, just by looking at it. Typically private driveways aren't labeled as streets on the county maps.

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Does anyone have a map to Pops' house?

Wait...wrong forum. Sorry.

FYI - it looks like Google's Steetview is based on Immersive Media's GeoImmersive imagery - 360 degree video captured by an 11 lens system at 100 million pixels per second!



[www.immersivemedia.com]

"IMC's GeoImmersive Database consists of more than 40,000 miles in North America and the company has expanded the collection of GeoImmersive imagery to include additional North American cities and points of interest as well as major European locations. The ability to integrate with a database or GIS applications, as well as stream 360 degree imagery on the web, provides significant additional value to customer who are familiar with traditional aerial or satellite imagery applications."



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 04/08/2008 12:43PM by StingMe.

Thanks for the push-- my neighborhood just came online.
Somehow the first time I viewed I ended up in the alley of my across-the-way neighbors. It wasn't a view from the side street-- it had the E/W line down the center and everything. There's no way to get back there intentionally.
The street level images they have are apparently much more comprehensive than what we're able to access.
It was a beautiful day when they took the pics-- late summer by the gravity of the trees.

Did you guys know you can jump to google street view straight from Zabasearch now?

I'm of the opinion that if you don't mark your property as private (a simple sign is fine), then you don't get to treat it that way when the whim strikes you.

On the southern tip of manhattan is battery park city. For all purposes, it feel like a continuation of neighboring battery park. you'll find out the difference after you set up a tripod or attempt to engage in any other normal right you'd have in public that corps would prefer you didn't have.

I've also run across this in suburbs that are privately owned. No markings on the street but they own it. Guess what, you gave up your rights at the edge of some unmarked border.

And who brings the message? A rent-a-cop who has no obligation to tell the truth.

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If not, they did not trespass and had every right to photograph your home.

I believe Andy knows better than most what activity constitutes trespassing.


I'm of the opinion that if you don't mark your property as private (a simple sign is fine), then you don't get to treat it that way when the whim strikes you.

I'm of the opinion the law trumps your opinion.

In CA, one can stray onto some private property accidentally. That's usually taken into consideration, but trespassing is still trespassing once they are told to leave. If the property is duly noted as private, then there is no saving grace.

Not to mention that there are many examples where *no* posting is required, and one would need substantial mitigation to avoid an arrest or citation.


There's no way to get back there intentionally.

Should that have been "unintentionally"?

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I am that Masked Man.

All you can do, is all you can do.

There’s trouble — it's time to play the sound of my people.

Your boos mean nothing to me, I've seen what you cheer for.

Insisting on your rights without acknowledging your responsibilities isn’t freedom, it’s adolescence.

I've been to the edge of the map, and there be monsters.

We are a government of laws, not men.

Everybody counts or nobody counts.

When a good man is hurt,
all who would be called good
must suffer with him.

You and I have memories longer than the road that stretches out ahead.

There is no safety for honest men except
by believing all possible evil of evil men.

We don’t do focus groups. They just ensure that you don’t offend anyone, and produce bland inoffensive products. —Sir Jonathan Ive

An armed society is a polite society.
And hope is a lousy defense.

You make me pull, I'll put you down.

I *love* SIGs. It's Glocks I hate.

So, by your logic, I can steal your car becuase there's no "sign" on it that says it's not public property?

Cool.. I'll be right over...

Your argument is so full of holes (or full of @#$%&), that it's hard to even find where to begin...

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Paul F.
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A sword never kills anybody; it is a tool in the killer's hand. - Lucius Annaeus Seneca c. 5 BC - 65 AD
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Good is the enemy of Excellent. Talent is not necessary for Excellence.
Persistence is necessary for Excellence. And Persistence is a Decision.
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Eureka, CA

Quote
Paul F.
So, by your logic, I can steal your car becuase there's no "sign" on it that says it's not public property?

I'm sorry, Paul, but the Argumentation Police have nabbed you on a slippery slope violation.

No street view of my house, Satellite is the closest I can get. They finally did get a newer overhead than they had though. They don't even have the street view of my in-laws and they live on Peachtree Rd in Atlanta. They must be slow getting around to the metro Atlanta area.

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Roswell, GA (Atlanta suburb)

I don't know google, microsoft live and the others refer to the aerial view as "satellite" (which gets a lot of people thinking that they actually are satellite images). Only the very far out shots are from satellite imagery. Most of the views people actually use are simply airphotos.

We actually use the google street view and microsoft's birds eye view a lot in my business. We are constantly planning field investigations that involve drilling and sampling in urban areas so it saves a massive amount of time and money for us to be able to "visit" the areas first via the computer.

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"In science it often happens that scientists say, 'You know that's a really good argument; my position is mistaken,' and then they would actually change their minds and you never hear that old view from them again. They really do it. It doesn't happen as often as it should, because scientists are human and change is sometimes painful. But it happens every day. I cannot recall the last time something like that happened in politics or religion." (1987) -- Carl Sagan

Why do you care that there is an image of the front of your house on the internet?

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