14 DAY TRIAL // It seems like Google's Street View function is one of the hottest technologies inside Googleplex since the Mountain View-based company continuously improves the feature. Following the integration of Street View in Google Earth, it looks like Google wants more than that as the famous Street View car was spotted in Italy. According to Philipp Lenssen from Google Blogoscoped, the photo was captured in Rome and, as you can see in the adjacent picture, the car has both the Google logo and the Street View icon on the left back door.
Just like the other cars spotted around the world, it is equipped with all sorts of high-end cameras supposed to capture high-resolution photos which would be then integrated into Street View.
So, there's another Street View car spotted, this time Italy, Europe being the location to get the street imagery. What does this mean? It seems like the Mountain View-based company is now preparing to bring the long-criticized function in Europe, although this may create some new problems to Google.
For instance, as Philipp Lenssen explains, "in Germany, you are not allowed to just snap a photo of someone and publish it; you may be allowed to do so if the person is part of a crowd and not the center of attention, but with Google Street View, it's hard to judge whether photos depict a crowd or individual persons, as both views are possible depending on where you zoom to."
As mentioned earlier, Google introduced Street View in Google Earth a few days ago, allowing the interested users to view street-level panoramas without leaving their desktop. At this time, Street View is available in several cities, all of them based in the United States.