Google officially launched its highly-anticipated Street View website at a downtown Vancouver hotel this morning to a crowd of tourism and city officials, including Mayor Gregor Robertson.
The free service is a major enhancement of the popular Google Maps service. Street View allows users to virtually walk the streets of major Canadian cities by clicking through the map. Users can make their way through city streets, search for landmarks, homes and businesses.
Most of Metro Vancouver, plus Squamish and Whistler are live at maps.google.ca/streetview The city was photographed over the past year and half, by Google-operated vehicles with rooftop-mounted cameras that traversed city streets, mystifying commuters and pedestrians.
Google says they have appeased concerns by the federal privacy commissioner and the RCMP. The company has made several suggested changes to Street View, such as blurring-out the faces of passerby and license plates. Users can also send a request to Google to have an image of themselves, their home, business or vehicle removed from the photographs.
The Metro Vancouver street view photography uses the highest-quality imagery to date. Images are impressively clear with bright colours and lots of detail. Tourism officials and VANOC are excited as the service will allow tourists to explore the city and venues in advance of the 2010 Winter Olympics.
Mayor Gregor Robertson says Street View supports the Vancouver’s “greenest city initiative” by allowing commuters, cyclists and pedestrians to plan the most efficient routes for getting around.
Burnaby-based Canpages has offered a similar service to Google Street View, called Canpages Street Scene, since March 2009. The service links the photographs with business listings in the Canpages online directory.
Olympic venues will be mapped by Street View in time for the 2010 Winter Olympics. Users will be able to tour Canada Hockey Place, the “Livecity Yaletown” celebration plaza, 2010 Aboriginal Pavilion, Canada Line Waterfront Station, among other venues.
Even the Central Valley Greenway commuter cycling route between Vancouver and New Westminster has been mapped by Street View, allowing cyclists to take a virtual tour before they hit the trail.
Google partnered with the City of Vancouver, Tourism British Columbia and Chicwalks.com to launch Street View in Metro Vancouver. Across Canada, the service is also available in Banff, Calgary, Kitchener-Waterloo, Toronto, Ottawa, Montreal, Quebec City and Halifax.
Check out Google Street View for yourself by going to: maps.google.ca/streetview
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