Eyeball to Eyeball with the Big G

[beamjockey]

Remember my April 12th entry?

I discovered that a Google Street View mapping car was visiting my neighborhood, and laid in ambush with my camera.



At long last, I find, the data gathered that day have been added to Google Maps. Go to 2625 Wydown Lane in Aurora, Illinois, USA and zoom into Street View, or drag the little orange cartoon person onto the map just south of the intersection of Wydown with White Barn and start looking around. (I'll try embedding a map here, but I'm not sure this works correctly.)

Click here to see map


Eventually you will see a man standing next to a red Pontiac Vibe. He is aiming a camera.


Elsewhere in the neighborhood, there seem to be a lot of little red cars.


I am too busy taking my own pictures to notice that my roof-rack has been disrupted by an image-mosaic boundary.

One can see traces of my car at the following addresses:

2400 White Barn
2403 White Barn
2405 White Barn
2417 White Barn
2457 Wydown
2465 Wydown
2471 Wydown
2479 Wydown
2487 Wydown
2501 Wydown
2503 Wydown
2625 Wydown
2647 Wydown
2615 Newton
2617 Newton
2623 Newton

All images of me, and of red cars, are copyright 2012 by Google.



There's a tree with reddish leaves that appears in both of these pictures.


It's been pointed out that, since I have a camera in front of my face, Google's "recognize a face and blur it" software may have left me alone. Not that I mind, being vain and all.

I am pleased to say that, after many years living in Aurora, I have now achieved landmark status. At least until the next time Google updates their imagery.

Comments

[vicarage.livejournal.com]

I wish you'd see more people waving at the Google car. Or perhaps they just shoot them and the street again....

[whl.livejournal.com]

I waved at the one I saw, but as I was indoors, behind a picture window, and 11 stories above it, I'm not visible. It was stopped at a light...

[isherempress.livejournal.com]

YOU ARE HILARIOUS!

[del-c.livejournal.com]

For some reason Britain is a hot spot for audacious Street View photobombers, both human and animal. The first three entries in this article are the Dead Girl of Worcester, the Horse-masked Man of Aberdeen, and the Brighton Seagull.

http://blogs.riverfronttimes.com/dailyrft/2010/08/top_ten_google_street_view_photobombs_pictures.php

[austin-dern.livejournal.com]

Congratulations! Do enjoy your Internet Fame.

[jiawen]

I want to know how you knew the car was coming. And, I bet, so does Google.

[beamjockey.livejournal.com]

Walked out of my house and saw it parked on Newton Court. Soon it started moving. I had my camera in my car, so I stalked the Mapmobile. See link at top of my article.

[mmcirvin.livejournal.com]

Curiously, this caused me to discover that something recently happened to Google Street View such that if you try to move around within it, it hangs Google Maps entirely in my browser (Chrome on Mac OS).

[beamjockey.livejournal.com]

Obviously, then, There Are Some Things Chrome Users Are Not Meant To Know.

[mmcirvin.livejournal.com]

Chrome seems to have a lot of problems with Google Maps lately, actually. Why would Google be hobbling their own product in their own browser?

[derekl1963.livejournal.com]

My brother hates Street View - for some years the picture of the court where he lives included a shot of him glaring angrily at the camera....

[kevinnickerson.livejournal.com]

It Google Earth, you only appear when looking from the south to the north.

[kip-w.livejournal.com]

I was just thinking about the photo car. I had for some reason decided to take a virtual drive up Colorado 36 from Lyons to Estes Park, and kept getting glimpses of the shadow of the camerasicle, thinking (idly) about what the car looks like. And voila, here is as good a photo as I could ask.

It'd be nice to run into you at a con some time.

[tlunquist.livejournal.com]

LOL

[(Anonymous)]

Pretty awesome, but I went there today and did not see you... Sorry.