Google Street View’s UK Charm Offensive Hits Coronation Street, Stonehenge

Once upon a time, my evenings were spent watching the popular British soap opera Coronation Street. And once upon a time, I lived about five miles from Stonehenge. Living back in the US now, Google’s got me covered if I fancy a trip down memory lane. Google Street View is mapping both places — and probably helping to win some more support of Google Street View in the UK, as a result.

Was it only a few months ago when villagers were in the streets blocking Google Street View cars? OK, one village, one car — but yes, it did take a village to stop Street View. And while Google got cleared on the privacy front, we also got news that those scary cameras were going elsewhere — onto a bike and out into the UK wilderness.

To me, this seemed a savvy move to win support for Street View. It’s not just the pedophile-enabling privacy hoover that some in the UK made it out to be. It’s also that cute cuddly tool you use for tourism.

The first bike pictures actually emerged in the US. Google Street View Bike Does Santa Monica, Universities & More covers how you can see the Santa Monica Pier, Santa Monica’s 3rd Street Promenade and the Monterey Bay Coastal Bike Path on it (I will personally volunteer to ride the bike down the Newport Beach boardwalk if Google makes it out here).

But after asking the British public to vote where the Street View bike should go first in the United Kingdom of Great Britain & Northern Ireland, we have a winner. Stonehenge! News.com has a short write-up, and here’s a video from Google itself of the Google Street View trike visiting the stone monument.

Sadly, the cameras stopped rolling after the trike backed up into one and knocked them all down, European Vacation style.

What’s next? Google’s got a release up with more details. The full list to be visited:

• Stonehenge
• Millennium Stadium
• Angel of the North
• Loch Ness
• Eden Project
• Warwick Castle
• Bamburgh Castle

Meanwhile, a Google Street View car is now mapping another popular British destination, that of the fictional Coronation Street, of the UK soap opera of the same name. Here it goes:

Personally, I’m sad they didn’t play the famous theme music as it rolled by. Over at the Coronation Street web site, there’s also short news item about the mapping. Apparently, it’s the first TV soap anywhere to get mapped this way.

Sadly, long standing character Jack Duckworth is moving off the street because of the privacy invasion. Surprised the Sun didn’t go with that for a headline. Ah, there’s always hoping.