Google Street View Bike Does Santa Monica, Universities & More

Jun 19, 2009 at 7:48pm ET by Danny Sullivan

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Remember that Google Street View bike that was unveiled in May for use to map footpaths in Britain? Turns out, Google has a number of them, and they’re also operating in Japan, Italy and the US. In fact, imagery from them from three spots in California has recently gone online and more will be coming in the next few months.

Google tells me in the US, these areas have gotten Street View photography via bike power:

Expect to see some universities added to the list, as well as amusement parks. Places working with Google to do bike-based mapping include:

University Of Pennsylvania (see AP story for more)
Penn State
University Of San Diego
Legoland California

Legoland! How about Disneyland? Well, Disneyland Paris went live about a week ago, but that was done with a car. If a bike is being brought into any of the other Disney parks, Google’s not saying.

Expect to see the images from other places appear in the next few months, Google says.

Postscript: In related news, apparently two people were arrested on mugging charges in the Netherlands after a crime was caught on a Street View camera.

Danny Sullivan is editor-in-chief of Search Engine Land. He’s a widely cited authority on search engines and search marketing issues who has covered the space since 1996. Danny also oversees Search Engine Land’s SMX: Search Marketing Expo conference series, maintains a personal blog called Daggle and microblogs on Twitter as @dannysullivan.

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4 COMMENTS ON Google Street View Bike Does Santa Monica, Universities & More

authorityseo, June 20th, 2009 at 2:20 am ET:

I find it fascinating that this is how Google gets though street level shots. A friend of mine had to show me a video of his neighborhood where we figured someone had to actually video tape his street. You could see in his windows from those cameras. I don’t think we need this much info online.

nickstamoulis, June 20th, 2009 at 8:44 am ET:
Premium member since 06/2009

I think this is great! The question is when will Google street view cover every square inch of even the rural areas of the US! :o)

realtrack, June 22nd, 2009 at 4:08 am ET:

I think its really greate idea to go on bycle as you can cover the small street where you can not go with cars and also small foot paths where car is not possible at all. overall very good ideas.

rustyrp, June 22nd, 2009 at 11:05 pm ET:

You can also take a look at what a Seattle-based startup is doing in this area by visiting realplaces.com.  

Not as many visual bells and whistles as StreetView, but anyone can create and maintain ownership of their very own “walk around” places right this minute, without requiring any fancy equipment, permission, obligation, car or even a bicycle. All you need is a basic, inexpensive camera. You have total freedom to create your Places wherever, whenever, however you like. And because RealPlaces is designed to be a place to share, each place and every single view has its own “micro blog”, where people can share thoughts or ask questions.

You can also see how one organization has incorporated RealPlaces into their own web site at: http://www.seattleparksfoundation.org/project_LakeUnion.html

We’re just getting started, and there’s still a ton of work to be done, but the site is functional, and we’re keeping an eye out for people who show some skills building places on their own – there will be some interesting opportunities as we move forward. Oh, and we PROMISE you won’t have to look all geeky like the guy above! ;-) Have fun! -rusty

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