Google street view

2021: The head of the mafia, who was on the run for 20 years, was detained in a frame in Google Street View

At the end of December 2021, Italian investigators found the 61-year-old leader of one of the mafia groups, Gioacchino Gammino, in Spain in a city northwest of Madrid thanks to the Google Maps tool. Google Street View, which is built into Google Maps and Google Earth services, allows you to view panoramic street views of many cities around the world from a height of about 2.5 meters. More details here.

2018: Google creates world air quality map

On September 12, 2018, Aclima, which develops mobile air quality sensors, announced plans to integrate its sensor platform with Google's Street View cars.

Google uses Street View cars to compile Google maps. The first Aclima sensors will be installed on 50 cars in Houston, Mexico City and Sydney - they will transmit data on air quality and composition to the company, measuring the concentration of carbon dioxide (CO2), carbon monoxide (CO), nitric oxide (NO), nitrogen dioxide (NO2), ozone (O3) and particulate matter on the streets. Aclima and Google plan to find out which cities have the highest air pollution, and then present the results in the publicly available Google BigQuery database.

Google Street View cars will check air quality around the world

Aclima has been working closely with Google for several years: in 2015, the company used sensors to assess air pollution on the Google campus, and in early 2018 entered London. Preliminary studies have shown that the composition of air can vary significantly on the same street, and for a full analysis it is necessary to take many samples. Aclima representatives note that the results of these studies can be used in a variety of areas: from the modernization of urban planning to the assessment of public health.

The pilot study allowed Aclima to develop a global evaluation strategy using Street View cars. Since 2015, Aclima sensors have already collected information about the state of the air at more than a billion different points in the state of California alone. Given that Google Street View is widely distributed on all continents, the potential amount of data is impressive.

According to the company, the first Street View cars with updated Aclima sensors will begin to evaluate air quality in the western United States and Europe in the fall of 2018.^[1]

2012

Google updated Street View in Google Maps in the fall of 2012. In its blog, the company reports that this is the largest update of all time - about 400 thousand km of streets from around the world were added to the function. New data added in the following countries: Macau, Singapore, Sweden, USA, Thailand, Taiwan, Italy, United Kingdom, Denmark, Norway and Canada. New Russian attractions appeared in Street View Collections - Kostroma Settlement, Staroladozhsky Fortresses, Vyborg Castle, Peter I House (Red Choirs) and an ensemble of monuments of the Novgorod Kremlin. In addition to the added attractions of South Africa, Japan, Spain, France, Brazil, Mexico and other countries.

Interesting fact

The Czech Personal Data Protection Department refused Google permission to shoot streets for the Google street view service. As Interfax reported in September 2010 with reference to the above agency, the Czech authorities considered that the cameras that capture street panoramas for the Google Street View service are located too high, and shots appear in the pictures that interfere with personal life. Earlier, hundreds of thousands of German residents protested against shooting streets with Google cars with mobile cameras installed on them. The launch of the Google street view project in this country was submitted to the German government for consideration.

Google said in May 2011 that it could close its Street View service in Switzerland with detailed photos of the streets and houses of this country if the Swiss Supreme Court does not overturn the decision obliging the Internet giant to guarantee complete anonymity to all people caught in these pictures.

Google representatives said they plan to appeal to the Swiss Federal Court, demanding to cancel the above decision of the lower court, reports AR. The company believes that the requirement to ensure the complete confidentiality of all persons in the photo in the Street View service, as well as those who have fallen into the frame of license plates, is not adequate. According to analysts, the complete shutdown of Street View throughout the country may be the sharpest step of the Internet giant in response to many complaints related to confidentiality in this service.

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