streetview

Many of us don't get out as much as we should, but that doesn't mean we don't want to, and Google understands that. That's why the company continues to add amazing destinations to its Street View repertoire; because not everybody has the time or money to visit the Grand Canyon, or go see historical sites in the arctic.

Their most recent addition to street view, however, goes further than that. Because, while some people may not be able to afford a trip to Arizona, only a handful could survive a hike up the world's tallest mountains -- and that's where Google is taking us next.

You may or may not know this, but Google Maps offers a Business Photos feature through which the search giant allows "Google trusted photographers" to provide street view tours of business establishments. That way, you can browse the local camera shop's selection before you ever actually go in.

But a small ski shop in France made headlines a couple of weeks ago by putting the feature to hilariously creative use. The store is Krakatoa in southern France, and when you tour their establishment, you'll find some very interesting things are going on in that store.

Back in October, Google took several Trekker Street View backpacks into the Grand Canyon to capture the majestic beauty of the national park for those who can't actually go there. Several months have gone by since that point, but finally, the cubicle-bound and financially unable among us can now visit the Grand Canyon from the comfort of our own desktops.

Being out on the roads is dangerous, be you a donkey in Botswana, a deer in New York, or a Google Street View driver. Things don't get newsworthy, however, until one of the first two meets up with the third.

The debate rages on: should appropriated Google Street View photographs be considered art? There are quite a few artists and photographers out there who think it should be. Photographer Michael Wolf was awarded Honorable Mention for his curated screenshots at the World Press Photo 2011. Photographer Aaron Hobson takes screenshots and turns them into gorgeous panoramic photos. Jon Rafman's screenshots were picked for an exhibition at London's Saatchi Gallery.

Now here's another case that might cause a lot more head-scratching: photographer Doug Rickard's Street View screenshots have been selected for the permanent collection at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art.

Google has already photographed quite a bit of our world using a fleet of cars, submarine-style cameras, tricycles, and snowmobiles, so what else is there to include in Street View? Places where vehicles can't go, of course. The company has begun capturing 360-degree imagery using the Trekker -- a special backpack with a Street View camera rig sticking up from the top.

Look around on the web, and you'll find plenty of photographs of Google's colorful offices in Mountain View (AKA the Googleplex) and around the world. Finding images shot from inside the company's tightly-guarded data centers is much harder, since only a handful of employees are allowed to roam the spaces where the "web lives." However, Google recently invited photographer Connie Zhou inside a number of its high-tech data centers. Gorgeous photographs resulted -- images that show incredible scale, mind-numbing repetition, and quirky colors.

Ever wonder how Google manages to capture street-level photographs of entire cities for its Street View? It's done using a giant fleet of camera-equipped cars. Google employee Masrur Odinaev recently shared this photograph -- taken by a Street View car -- showing one of Google's Street View car parking lots. We see a large fleet of Subaru Imprezas that have panoramic cameras mounted to the tops.

Gabriel Paez is like a one-man Google Street View. On September 21, 2012, the panoramic videographer and iPhone hacker set out from Seaside, Oregon on a journey across the United States to Portland, Maine. Carrying him from place to place was Pucho, his 2005 Vespa PX150 scooter. Strapped to his back was a giant panoramic camera rig designed to capture 360-degree video footage of his adventure "for a live stage show" he's working on.

If you've always wanted to go scuba diving at the Great Barrier Reef but haven't had a chance to, this might be one of the next best things: Google has added gorgeous underwater panoramic photographs to Street View, allowing to swim around at the world's largest coral system as if it were a street in your neighborhood.

Google's Street View imagery features plenty of photographs of people, but they're often distorted and almost always feature blurred faces. Street Ghosts is a project by artist Paolo Cirio that reintroduces these distinctive portraits back into the real world. After choosing a particular photo containing a person in Street View, Cirio prints it out as a life-sized print on thin paper, cuts out the person, and then uses wheat-paste to affix the giant person photo onto the exact location where the photo appeared in the virtual world.

Ascii Street View is a web app by programmer …

In 2011, photographer Michael Wolf was awarded Honorable Mention in the World Press Photo 2011 contest for …

Google Street View is interesting from a photographical perspective because it is, essentially, the largest compilation of 360-degree images in existence. Photographer Michael Wolf even used it to get a different perspective on over-photographed Paris. The best photos on Street View, however, weren't actually taken in the street. They come from endeavors like Google's World Wonders project, which takes you on 360-degree tours of famous and often inaccessible locations.

When photographer Michael Wolf had to move to Paris in 2008 because of a job opportunity for his wife, he wasn't too thrilled with the situation. He thought that living in one of the most photographed cities of all time, surrounded by the inevitable cliches of such a place, wasn't conducive to creative, unique photography. So he sat down at his computer and began browsing through the then only 6-month old Google Street View, which ultimately led to a unique photographical project that fit right in with his long-time fascination with "peeping" into people's lives through photography.

Chemin Vert is a project created by Italian artist …

Earlier today Google gave a sort of “state of Google Maps” address to many of the biggest names in …

Contrary to popular belief, Google can't be everywhere at once (they're working on it), and one of the most obvious examples of this limitation is the extent of Street View functionality in Google Maps. Of course, tons of roads and even some obscure neighborhoods have been mapped out with street view, but all too often your own front yard is left un-street-viewable. And while that may not be much of a tragedy for most people, those that would rather change that now have the option to with DIY Street View's new Street View Camera System.

Google recently brought its Street View camera inside the White House for the …

If you go to Google Street View and type in “rue de londres, …

Named after the fact that Google Street View cars shoot with 9 separate cameras, Canadian artist Jon Rafman's Nine Eyes of Google Street View website is an ongoing project that publishes strange scenes photographed by Google's automated cameras. Rafman writes,

This infinitely rich mine of material afforded my practice the extraordinary opportunity to explore, interpret, and curate a new world in a new way. To a certain extent, the aesthetic considerations that form the basis of my choices in different collections vary. For example, some selections are influenced by my knowledge of photographic history and allude to older photographic styles, whereas other selections, such as those representing Google’s depiction of modern experience, incorporate critical aesthetic theory. But throughout, I pay careful attention to the formal aspects of color and composition.

[...] I can seek out postcard-perfect shots that capture what Cartier-Bresson titled “the decisive moment,” as if I were a photojournalist responding instantaneously to an emerging event. At other times, I have been mesmerized by the sense of nostalgia, yearning, and loss in these images—qualities that evoke old family snapshots. I can also choose to be a landscape photographer and meditate on the multitude of visual possibilities.

New service called the Catlin SeaView Survey is planning to do for the …

B&H is one of the most popular retailers in the photo world, but most customers haven’t set foot inside …

Street View Stereographic is a fun little web app that creates a “little …

Address Is Approximate is a beautiful and creative stop-motion video by Tom Jenkins of …

We've seen that Google Street View imagery is capable of winning photojournalism awards, but how would the camera-equipped cars do as fine art photographers? Photographer Aaron Hobson has a fascinating gallery of fine art-style photographs found in Street View -- cinematic photos that would look great blown up and exhibited on museum walls.

Google Street View is neat in that it allows you to step into …

Google Street View photos won't be limited to the exterior of buildings for much longer -- the company has just announced Google Business Photos, a service that will allow Google websites to show the interiors of local businesses. If you thought having vehicles equipped with Street View cameras driven up and down every street in every city was a tedious project, for Business Photos Google is planning to have photographers sent to businesses that apply for the service. Crowd-sourcing the imagery would definitely be less labor intensive, but shooting inside private property requires permission.

Last month there was quite a bit of buzz among photographers when photographer …

You can now visit some of the most famous art museums in the world the same way you visit streets in the Street View of Google Maps. Art Project is a new Google website that uses Street View technology to make 17 top museums accessible to people who might not otherwise visit them.

Google Street View now covers all seven …

Just last week we wrote that the Museum of London had released an augmented reality iPhone app …

Google recently added high-quality street level photographs to …

Just in time for the Winter Olympics, Google announced on Tuesday that Street View now includes imagery of several runs at Whistler Blackcomb ski resort, where many of the events will be held. To capture the photographs, Street View cameras were mounted on a snowmobile that made runs down the slopes.