HardOCP News
[H] News
- Joined
- Dec 31, 1969
- Messages
- 0
Google Street View has to reshoot all of Japan after complaints piled in over the height of the cameras used. Wow, every street has to be redone? That has to suck.
![[H]ard|Forum](/styles/hardforum/xenforo/logo_dark.png){kind=logo}
Google Street View Has to Reshoot in Japan
- Thread starter HardOCP News
- Start date
CKTurbo128
Gawd
- Joined
- Oct 8, 2004
- Messages
- 607
Ouch, that's gotta suck (for Google), considering that they shot several cities in Japan already.
sfsuphysics
[H]F Junkie
- Joined
- Jan 14, 2007
- Messages
- 16,018
Quick someone find those images before they remove them!! 
Seriously, how high they mount the google camera? I've see them, they're typically mounted on small cars not already large ones (ok it's Japan so that's also quite probable). Then they're at most a foot higher than a normal person (ok final Its Japan they're 5 feet tall on average..) but are their fences really that low that driving by in the street allows you to see over them? Are the fences right next to the street? (see over here we call that an alley)
Seriously, how high they mount the google camera? I've see them, they're typically mounted on small cars not already large ones (ok it's Japan so that's also quite probable). Then they're at most a foot higher than a normal person (ok final Its Japan they're 5 feet tall on average..) but are their fences really that low that driving by in the street allows you to see over them? Are the fences right next to the street? (see over here we call that an alley)
Nenu
[H]ardened
- Joined
- Apr 28, 2007
- Messages
- 20,315
Makes I larf.
Google should have sought permission to photograph there (same for everywhere else!)
Serves them right
Google should have sought permission to photograph there (same for everywhere else!)
Serves them right
Sigh, Google should just give up on these people. If they don't want their countries pictured, then just don't.. they are going to be the idiots wondering years down the road "why isn't our neighborhood/country documented".... and it will be a big laugh at their expense.
why would i want my country/neighbourhood to be documented? ok, those nerds who never go out of their houses will want to know what it looks like out there...
imo they made the right decision, google streetview sucks and isnt needed. seriously, what do people need it for?
yep, often there are no sidewalks at all
ok, those nerds who never go out of their houses will want to know what it looks like out there...imo they made the right decision, google streetview sucks and isnt needed. seriously, what do people need it for?
yep, often there are no sidewalks at all
Jakalwarrior
2[H]4U
- Joined
- Aug 6, 2005
- Messages
- 3,189
Obviously If the google street view camera can see over their fence, I would be able to walk down their street and see over it to so it isn't a "privacy" fence.
Solution? Stop having "intimate" moments in your backyard behind a tiny fence in a country known for building upwards.
Solution? Stop having "intimate" moments in your backyard behind a tiny fence in a country known for building upwards.
Well, If the photo's were picking up 'PRIVATE' property, due to essentially looking over your fence, they have every right to complain about it. I would too, fences are there for a reason. Don't see how that = 'give up on these people'.
I'm curious, since it isn't NEEDED. Are TV's needed? Is the Internet NEEDED?
Because too many people bitch about something that is essentially free. A retake costs millions upon millions, they should simply just blur out all the images, problem solved.
Btw, what is your definition of a privacy fence? 1 foot? 6 foot? 20 foot?
I just wanted to add that I can see over 90% of the fences out there, 6' fences is no problem for me to walk past and view over because of my height.
I can also see over most 7' fences in my previous truck, haha
Sure it's a free service.........that nobody asked for. If you're going to insist on taking photo's of the whole damn world you're going to have to be discreet, & have lots of different sensibilities from different cultures to avoid offending. Our american "you don't like it GFY" doesn't work or even exist in some of these other cultures.
So, just because google is providing a free service, doesn't mean people have no room to complain when it crosses a social boundary (whatever it may be, depending on the local culture).
In a country where most people are 5'-ish tall, I'm sure it's much shorter than what you or I are used too. Likely also much shorter than what 'american' google photographers where thinking when setting up their camera. But generally speaking, tall enough so people walking by can't just look in. (Most towns codes wouldn't allow you to build 20' even if you wanted too).
Point is, if you're boning in your back yard (esp. w/ how prudish japan can be) you very likely have up whatever the local definition of "privacy fence" is. As for the "country known for building up" comment.........sure, because that whole damn island is just like Tokyo.
madFive
metal[H]ead
- Joined
- Mar 26, 2008
- Messages
- 9,718
Curiosity got the better of me I dropped street-view in a Tokyo suburb (I guess it was a suburb; I don't know the city at all), and I can totally see what people were complaining about. Looks like most of the fences are around 7 feet tall, which is plenty private against people walking around, but the camera angles are way above that (guessing around 10 feet); looked like they were driving a van with the camera on a tall post above it. I was able to see the tops of several vans and other large vehicles from their view, so whatever they were shooting from was a lot taller than a regular van.
Google is putting themselves through a ridiculous amount of trouble by not getting proper authorization to photo all over the place. I don't see any reason they should get special treatment - still amuses me to see them fail every now and then.
(and no, I didn't catch any "intimate moments" in the couple minutes I was there)
I dropped street-view in a Tokyo suburb (I guess it was a suburb; I don't know the city at all), and I can totally see what people were complaining about. Looks like most of the fences are around 7 feet tall, which is plenty private against people walking around, but the camera angles are way above that (guessing around 10 feet); looked like they were driving a van with the camera on a tall post above it. I was able to see the tops of several vans and other large vehicles from their view, so whatever they were shooting from was a lot taller than a regular van.Google is putting themselves through a ridiculous amount of trouble by not getting proper authorization to photo all over the place. I don't see any reason they should get special treatment - still amuses me to see them fail every now and then.
(and no, I didn't catch any "intimate moments" in the couple minutes I was there)
spacetrader
2[H]4U
- Joined
- Dec 12, 2008
- Messages
- 2,681
why would i want my country/neighbourhood to be documented?
imo they made the right decision, google streetview sucks and isnt needed. seriously, what do people need it for?
yep, often there are no sidewalks at all
i use it for finding a new place to live. find a house online, use street view to see what type of neighborhood it is without even moving your chair let alone wasting a day and a tank of gas driving around.
michael.pa2
2[H]4U
- Joined
- Dec 26, 2006
- Messages
- 2,998
The Japanese can be complicated,prim and proper in public,but in private things can really get weird.No telling what goes on behind those fences,watch out for those tentacles,Google!
Not true. I asked for it, and I welcome it, embrace it and utilize it when needed. It's both an informational resource and an occasional source of entertainment, and it's free! Who could possibly complain?
hmm, yeah that´s pretty convenient, but i think even that differs from country to country. here in germany our decision wether we move or not to a specific location depends more on the flat that one wants to live in. we dont care much about our neighborhood. also we pretty much always already know the place where we want to move.
there you go, that´s even worse than i imagined
sure, millions of jobs depend on both of them. they are both used to get information and entertain, they connect the world and without them we would still be technologywise in the stoneage (okay, streetview does inform and entertain too, but on a much lower scale).
well, people dont care if 1 out of 1000 can view over a 6 or 7 feet tall fence. they care when everyone can, thats why there is a fence at all.
THIS
People commonly go out of their way to entertain Google Streetview users. I doubt they would be offended if I happened to be entertained by their intentional anticsthe people who "entertain" you?
I vote they reshoot the entire US photo gallery with the lense cap on.
I do not have an issue with them taking photos of commercial (publicly available) areas, but what I strongly disagree with is them taking pictures of residential housing. There is no reason for them to drive up and down the streets taking pictures of people's belongings and tell people exactly where to find them.
There is no such thing as free. We all share the same collective wallet. Unless somehow photos magically appear on their servers, then Google is spending lots of money on this. They will spend much more as time goes on, especially when all of their precious photos get outdated.
Heaven forbid you actually go out and do something. Seems like you do a lot of stuff from your chair, so what would it matter what your neighborhood looks like when you spend most of it in your basement?
These photos will continue getting older, so you will buy a house going off a picture from 10 years ago. Kind of like those exotic hotel pictures in remote regions that turn out to look nothing like the photo. lol
I do not have an issue with them taking photos of commercial (publicly available) areas, but what I strongly disagree with is them taking pictures of residential housing. There is no reason for them to drive up and down the streets taking pictures of people's belongings and tell people exactly where to find them.
There is no such thing as free. We all share the same collective wallet. Unless somehow photos magically appear on their servers, then Google is spending lots of money on this. They will spend much more as time goes on, especially when all of their precious photos get outdated.
Heaven forbid you actually go out and do something.
Seems like you do a lot of stuff from your chair, so what would it matter what your neighborhood looks like when you spend most of it in your basement? These photos will continue getting older, so you will buy a house going off a picture from 10 years ago. Kind of like those exotic hotel pictures in remote regions that turn out to look nothing like the photo. lol
Good for you. But you're not complaining are you? My point was that just because your service is 'free' does not mean you can do whatever you want with impunity. Some impoverished young man washed my windshield the other day without asking me, resulting in it being free. The lack of cost didn't effect my displeasure w/ him having touched my car.
/thread. Should have picked someone with common sense for the job of mounting cameras.
I'm curious, do you even use maps? Or for that matter paper maps?
Its about time google was reigned in, street view is just the thin end of the wedge, we let them do it in the UK and now look what's happening
http://img194.imageshack.us/my.php?image=google2.jpg
In all seriousness, Google street view would be fine if it where just the view along the street, it would still provide directions and give an indication what a place looks like. There's no real reason to photograph the front of every property, and certainly no reason to take photographs from 10 foot up.
http://img194.imageshack.us/my.php?image=google2.jpg
In all seriousness, Google street view would be fine if it where just the view along the street, it would still provide directions and give an indication what a place looks like. There's no real reason to photograph the front of every property, and certainly no reason to take photographs from 10 foot up.
I would have to guess you are younger than that if you based a guess off my post. Judging from your post you are wanting to feel you are making a "more intelligent" decision by thinking your are older than someone else. Common sense would tell you that I most likely would care less about them taking pictures of people's homes if I didn't own one myself. Google might as well just get it over with and put live telescopic 360 degree cameras in front of and behind everybody's house.
When I buy a house, I care about the house I'm going to live in, and not everybody else's house. That is the problem with a majority of the US. People are always worried about what everybody else is doing with their own property.
I'll give you a perfect recent example of why not rely on google pics: You heard Jobs is destroying a dilapidated house on his property and building a brand new one? Going from your logic, you would use google photos of his property which would show the old house. Clearly the photo would be out of date and not give you an accurate representation. Had you of driven through the area, it may have influenced your decision to your benefit. Perhaps an airport or a nudie bar was built across from a house that looks otherwise perfect, but doesn't show in the photo. There could also have been a major deforestation in an area, a lake drained, or a new construction site. I didn't think anybody would base a decision on buying a house off some (over time, outdated) google pics.
Depends on what I plan on doing.
You make a good point. Who drives a vehicle that puts them 10 feet above the street? Guess this service was only intended for truck drivers.