EEVblog Electronics Community Forum
General => General Technical Chat => Topic started by: Bryn on July 26, 2023, 11:09:35 am
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https://www.androidpolice.com/google-street-view-germany-after-10-years-privacy-outcry/ (https://www.androidpolice.com/google-street-view-germany-after-10-years-privacy-outcry/)
Google Maps Street View is finally available in Germany's 20 largest cities, providing up-to-date imagery to help tourists and residents explore the country.
Google is working closely with a German government privacy agency to ensure that the Street View imagery meets the country's data privacy regulations, including deleting older images.
The update was much needed, as previous Street View images in Germany were outdated and many streets and buildings were unrecognizable. Additionally, a representative study showed that more than 90% of Germans have a positive reception of Street View.
I actually noticed a change upon doing some random exploring with Mapcrunch today, and I'm glad that Germany is now no longer stuck in time just because of an outcry over privacy (and that it was banned by the German government since then).
I mean, a lot has changed around Berlin, Munich and Düsseldorf over the last fifteen years this would be more welcoming for anybody wanting to see them on their screens before seeing them with their own eyes for their vacation there.
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This makes a lot of sense now. I've been to Germany recently and I observed the lack of Street view, but didn't really checked it deeply back then. Compared to other countries where even some really remote roads have Street view, Germany was lacking a lot.
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Yep. Did see the vehicle the other day in my road.
Thank God my front garden was in order. :)
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[...] I'm glad that Germany is now no longer stuck in time just because of an outcry over privacy (and that it was banned by the German government since then).
We indeed had a lot of heated discussions over privacy concerns back then -- but there never was a government ban to my knowledge. I understand that Google just did not have the appetite for another round of negative publicity. They did update their imagery for some notable buildings and tourist attractions that underwent major changes over the past years.
In the meantime people got used to the Street View concept, and hardly took note of the recent country-wide update. In the original set of Street View images, about 3% of the buildings were blurred out according to Google, due to owners or inhabitants opting out. In the new images, obscured buildings are few and far between. Most people seem ok with Street View now -- or maybe some did not pick up on the new imaging effort yet and will still contradict once they learn about it.
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Yep. Did see the vehicle the other day in my road.
Thank God my front garden was in order. :)
You have a point though. Now the City does not need to send an inspector to check who widened their driveway without permission or cut down that precious tree. I only use street view to navigate to places i need to go to, but i've seen people using it for all sort of things. Which car you drive, business address check, real estate research, property price estimate, you name it.
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You have a point though. Now the City does not need to send an inspector to check who widened their driveway without permission or cut down that precious tree. I only use street view to navigate to places i need to go to, but i've seen people using it for all sort of things. Which car you drive, business address check, real estate research, property price estimate, you name it.
... and burglers too.
Even so, we electronics guys have our methods.
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Just feel lucky that Google Street View isn't real-time yet. That'll be a whole other story.