Release of Google Street View

Google Street View is a feature of Google Maps and Google Earth that provides panoramic photographs taken at street level, allowing users to explore roads and places virtually. It first appeared in a few cities in the United States, with images captured by cars equipped with cameras on their roofs. It then expanded rapidly across the globe, using cars, tricycles, boats, snowmobiles and backpack-mounted cameras to cover places such as city streets, national parks and historic sites. The service raised concerns about privacy, leading Google to blur faces and licence plates, and some countries, among them Germany, allowed residents to opt out. A controversy also arose when it emerged that Google's vehicles had collected data from unprotected wireless networks.

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