Google is giving users a chance to get their favorite places on Street View

Oct 17, 2009 09:17 GMT  ·  By

Google Street View is yet to launch in many countries and in the ones that it is available it has seen its fair share of criticism. In the US though people have a slightly different view on what privacy means than in Europe or Japan so the service has been a lot more welcomed. So much so that Google is running out of places to shoot and is now asking users to suggest where the quirky Google Trike should go next.

“I've already had a chance to take the Street View trike out to photograph some hard-to-reach places for Google Maps, like the Arastradero Open Preserve and LEGOLAND California. When I'm out riding — and once people understand what exactly I'm up to — I'm often asked if we can come to their alma mater, local bike trail or favorite beach boardwalk. Now, we're giving everyone a chance to tell us exactly where in the U.S. they'd like the trike to go next,” Dan Ratner, senior mechanical engineer at Google, wrote.

That's a job title you wouldn't exactly expect to find at Google but as the company is expanding into even more uncharted territory with its products it is encountering problems that need some very specialized people. An issue that Google faced early on with Street View was the fact that the cars it built to take the photos were limited in reach by the roads they could go on. A lot of interesting places though can't be reached by car and this is especially true in Europe with old cities and their cramped roads.

This is where the Google Trike comes in, as it can reach a lot of places no car could. The trike is actually quite a piece of engineering and, interestingly, it started life as a “20 percent” project. A lot of great Google products have come out of this program, which allows employees to use 20 percent of their time at work pursuing any project they want. The Google Trike comes packed with gadgets necessary for the Street View photos and it all adds up to make the contraption weigh about 250 pounds.

The Trike was first introduced in Europe where it shot some very interesting places like Stonehenge or the Palace of Versaille. It already made its debut in the US with places like Legoland California but Google is now asking users where it should go next. Over the next few weeks Google will be taking votes and the most popular locations will get a visit from the Google Trike to be included in Street View in the coming months.