Thumbs Up: A Google Street View Surprise

The last time I looked at the Google Street View of our city apartment, it was a scene from a few years ago. I know this because a car that we used to own, a 1989 Volvo station wagon, was parked in front of our building. Sometimes when I would get lost in regret about selling Beverly, as we called our trusty old wagon, I would pull up our address on Google and stare wistfully at her.

To help guide some relatives who might be staying at our apartment over the Christmas holidays, I once again visited our neighborhood using Google’s satellite technology. It was immediately clear that the Street View car had visited our again quite recently. For one thing, the big old tree that used to live in front of our building is gone in the new Street View images. That tree was cut down this past summer, much to my chagrin, so that was my first tip that the new images are fairly recent. For another, the interminable utility work that has been happening on our block is visible in the Street View images. And for one lucky member of that road construction crew, this was his chance to be immortalized by the Google cameras:

I can practically hear the worker saying “Hi Mom!” as the Google Street View mobile passed by. I’m a little disappointed he didn’t do something a little more outrageous but he probably didn’t have a lot of time to think of a post before the car passed him by.

If you’ve never seen the Street View mobile in action, it’s a site to behold. The brightly painted car has a big red ball affixed to the top of it. It kind of looks like a lady bug on a stick attached to the car. I’ve seen the car in action a few times but I’ve never been in a position to strike to funny pose. If you’re curious about the Street View car, Google has a site with information about where the car is currently mapping, as well as some background information about how they turn photographs into 365 degree maps.

Go practice your pose, folks. You might be captured by the Street View camera any day now!

Images: 1-2. This American House. 3. Google.