Hurray for Google Street View
Posted by Fiona Nevile in Cottage tales | 11 comments
Photo: Chelsea house
When I heard that Google Street View had been updated to include 95% of the UK, I immediately fired up the computer. I spent the day visiting all the houses that I’ve lived in, the schools and colleges I’ve attended. I also took a virtual tour of the places where I have worked and the towns where I’ve lived.
It’s incredible how much extra one remembers just by looking at a photograph of a place. As Google Street View only goes on roads I was only able to see [art of the park where I played as a child. There was the long grey path that we used to run along, late for school. There were the trees where we used to hang out with boys playing Dare Do Kiss or Promise.
I followed the road from Newton Abbot to my boarding school and glanced through the gate. Suddenly I was a teenager again. The road familiar yet forgotten.
I searched a long time looking for our house in Ascot. There was the famous oak tree at the end of Kennel Drive – our house was just round the corner – second but one. Then I realised that it had been knocked down and replaced with a much bigger house. Our house had overlooked one of the Crown nursery gardens – a fascinating view – there was always something different going on. That had also gone and was now a housing estate. It was quite a shock to see how things had moved on. A whole part of my life had vanished.
I visited the houses where my parents had been born. And peered up at the windows of my very first flat – a large attic in Clapham. I flew on Google wings to Torquay to look at our old house there. This house was built in the 1930’s with high door handles that always made me feel very small. I used to climb over the back wall and race across the meadow into the soft silence of the pine woods – the perfect place for spy games. Would they still be there? Google satellite confirmed that they still existed.
It was a strange experience almost like being in a dream. I was an invisible time traveller but journeying in the present to see how the old places had changed.
I know that lots of people object to Google photographing their houses. I don’t mind at all. The photo above is Google’s of Smart Wife’s and Kind Husband’s Chelsea house where I lived for 6 years. They died years ago and the front door has been moved back but I’m sure that it’s their house. My flat was in the basement.
Why not give Google Street View a go. I can almost guarantee that you will be entertained.
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When the street view car drove past my old house I spotted it and waved from my window. Six months later, this appeared: http://bit.ly/bdfsjd
I loved reading this! I did exactly the same! Took me back so many years, I shared it with my Dad too, he’s 87! He loved showing me where he played with his mates in Silver town, London, near the tram lines!
Boys !
I thought I would have a look at this -and to find our own house – sneakily just to see if it was shown in a good light !!!!
Unfortunately, it isn’t even ours – it is just a brick wall around the corner in the next road.
Despite following the arrow to get to our house, it doesn’t go there.
A bit of a disappointment really.
When I found that street view had been extended across the country, the first places I looked at were my parents house, and my old student houses in Aberystwyth. It can sometimes be a bit of a struggle to identify individual houses when they are in a continuous terrace, but I think I eventually found them. Ah, nostalgia. And it’s cheaper than driving somewhere to take a look.
One of the things I have found Google Earth very useful for though is literally ‘flying’ across the world & seeing where Tony’s staying if he’s away – so he can’t tell ‘porky pies’ that the hotel’s not so good any more…! ;0) not sure how regularly it’s updated though; the last satellite imagery of the farm appears to have been taken in early June 2006 – as we can see Darwin, Sabe & Toto ‘strip grazing’ Parc Mawr – & the Dairy Complex hadn’t even been thought of, then!
It’s also a revealing “bird’s eye view” history of the Ffarm which I’ve used to overlay old maps of the place & identify ancient features, hedge systems, drovers’ tracks & the like; much as I did whilst studying for my Degree in Ancient History & Classical Archaeology (my thesis involved researching ancient field systems dating from Roman to Nabatean times in Jordan; examining why they fell into disuse & whether ancient agricultural techniques could be resurrected to good effect in desertified regions in the modern era – fascinating stuff…!).
So you never know, if global warming comes to the UK – I might be able to provide useful hints & tips to keep the nation’s veggie patches productive!!
Hi Suky
I had such fun exploring our village! Great idea to use it for looking for footpaths.
Hi Paula
How amazing that the school is still the same. I think that the sattelite view is updated regularly.
Hi Veronica
I hadn’t thought of using it to plan a route. I always find it difficult driving to new places.
Still not sure what I think about this.
Fortunately, living in such a secluded spot, our our Ffarm is not directly visible – which is why we moved here in the first place: for privacy & tranquility. As the photos of our area were taken on a (rare) sunny Summers’ day the Ffarm is almost hidden amongst the rich foliage.
We’re happy about this because thefts from outlying farms are becoming increasingly common. We have no equipment here ourselves: no tractor; no Bobcat; not even so much as a quad bike – as we prefer to invest our money in local contract farmers which subsequently supports & sustains them.
However as I whizzed around Google Streetmap it concerned me to see that the comprehensive camera shots have literally given an ‘on-a-plate’ inventory of many farms’ tractors & equipment for any unscrupulous thieves to digest. And in urban areas – whilst car registration numbers are (in the majority of cases, but by no means all) blotted out; the makes & models of desirable vehicles & precisely where they are parked, are there for all to see.
I also had a peek at some of the addresses where I used to live, whilst in the Military. Not all Married Quarters are located ‘within the wire’; & as such the Google cameras have had free access (not to mention that Google Earth already gives detailed layouts of pretty-much every military installation, anywhere & everywhere).
Surely it cannot be healthy to provide such comprehensive information to potential terrorists…?? Military personnel & their families are naturally vigilant & will immediately report any suspicious activity, vehicles, people etc observed in their neighbourhood.
But Google Streetmap literally gives the terrorist a resource to study these things at leisure, to potentially devastating effect…
Whilst I don’t deny that I too was fascinated by my ‘virtual’ trip down “Memory Lane” (even found the bus shelter in the village where I had my first kiss…!!) admittedly I AM glad that where we live, remains private – the very reason we moved here – at least for now.
I’m sure when Google starts offering ‘virtual tours’ of every property on the map people won’t be quite so enamoured!
And I’m so glad the photos of where we currently live were taken on a bright, beautiful, Summers’ day…because blimey, some of the Winter photos I’ve seen make places look pretty grim!
BTW Google advertises this as “a great way to promote your house sale or your business”. As I recall we spent a small fortune getting the Estate Agent to provide details of property area for potential buyers. Whatever happened to that…?!
Mind you perhaps they could get a nice shot of your gateside stand & all its’ gorgeous wares!
So long as the Inland Revenue don’t use it as a tool to charge business rates for cottage industries; & meanwhile I’m sure the Planning Department will be rubbing their hands with glee at the opportunity to check for illegal sheds, greenhouses & fences that householders have unwittingly erected…yah boo hiss. :0(
I thought Google streetview was a bit creepy at first, but I have to admit that when we recently stayed somewhere in Spain we haven’t been before we had a great time exploring the village before we arrived, and as Paula says, we knew when we’d got there!
Haven’t yet looked up any old haunts but I undoubtedly will now!
I never thought to look up my old house, although I did once use it to look up my first grade school. The mosaic that we all chipped a chunk for is still up, and the place hasn’t changed a bit in over fifty years.
Google street view is especially useful when you’re going somewhere you’ve never been before. You can see what your destination looks like so you’ll recognize it when you see it.
My only question for them is are they going to keep taking pictures to update their maps? Like your house that was gone….I know what my backyard used to look like from the air, but I wonder what it will look like once I get all the trees, planter boxes and paths planted. That’s not exactly street view, but I still wonder.
I recently used Google earth to discover footpaths around where I live and spent ages looking around my neighbourhood. Never thought of the street version, must take a peek.