Tuesday, May 10, 2011

Google Was Here


Spotted at the corner of High Street and Church street: an operative for GoogleMaps on a bicycle with lots of camera equipment mounted all over it. The biker told me he couldn't stop to talk or answer questions other than to say he was working on a special campus mapping project all over the U.S. and is currently mapping Wesleyan. He couldn't stop to pose for a picture and unfortunately I was not quick enough to get a full view of the large unwieldy contraption. It was quite a site to see.


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5 comments:

  1. Stephen H. DevotoMay 10, 2011 at 4:55 PM

    Probably unrelated, but Google today added bicycle directions to Google Maps: http://lifehacker.com/5490076/google-maps-adds-bike+friendly-directions-and-trails

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  2. AnonymousMay 10, 2011 at 9:46 PM

    cool! i saw him riding around the campus also.

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  3. I miss the old daysMay 11, 2011 at 6:29 AM

    Doesn't anyone find google maps scary? Some stalker gets your address from the internet, easy enough, ever google yourself? Then go to google earth or google maps and there is your house. So much for any type of privacy these days. Remember when all you needed was an unlisted number and no one could find you?

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  4. AnonymousMay 11, 2011 at 8:52 AM

    I don't know about anyone else, but I don't like the idea of Google photographing my house. It's an invasion of privacy. Nobody other than my friends needs to know where my house is located or what it looks like. If anything, it can help burglers casing out the place. Google hasn't come around to my area yet, and hope they never do.

    Why would anyone think this is "cool"?

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  5. Karen SwartzMay 11, 2011 at 7:56 PM

    I see the pluses and minuses of the technology. I use it when I need to find directions to some place, but I also think its healthy to feel some alarm about being "tracked". I searched in the Google help files for "how to remove my house" and there are quite a few discussions about privacy violation and how to "opt out". Some responses say something like this: "You can request your property to be removed by clicking on the REPORT button on the street view, then follow the links and fill out the form." So never underestimate the power of a Google search to help you find out how to get yourself out of Google-ability.

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