Google Aims to Educate the Public with a New Street View Site

Street View is a great product but many times its usefulness has been overshadowed by the controversy surrounding it. It has been met with reluctance, sometimes even heavy criticism, in many of the countries it has been deployed but a new site Google has set up aims to educate the public and present some of the benefits the service can provide.

“Since our launch of Street View in May 2007, it has consistently been one of Google Maps' most popular features. We've also found that it has been one of the features that folks are most curious about, so we have given our Street View overview site a refresh that puts everything you wanted to know about Street View in one place,” Julie Zhou, associate product marketing manager, wrote.

The new site brings all the different information about Street View in one place. There is a general overview and guide of the service under the “Using Street View” section, with a list of common uses, like the obvious “explore the world,” but also more practical ones like checking for parking space at a venue or showing your friends or parents where you live. Businesses can also benefit from the service, with some uses for Street View also detailed on the site.

Perhaps even more practical than the general information, at least for those in the countries where Street View is in the process of being deployed, is the listing of all the locations where Street View cars or trikes are planned to go to next, making sure that the residents of the area are aware of their presence. This, coupled with the Privacy section, should put at ease any of the worries some might have about the service, which are quite a few considering the troubled history Street View has had.