Comments on: Google maps' "Street View" of Roanoke kind of creeps me out

By: Leisia

Leisia — Mon, 16 Mar 2009 13:08:35 +0000

I can't believe this!! I put in my address & poof!!!! Ther was my little scrawny house & cars & a bird bath - that we no longer have!!! The photo was taken last spring - in April. This is creeping me out. TMI on the internet & I know the shoppers cards monitor lots of stuff & now this. Kinda like 1984 - Big Bro. Who paid for this??? Taxpayers? the Government? Google? Who footed the bill for all of these houses / streets/ businesses to be photgraphed & placed on line???

By: Jack

Jack — Thu, 19 Feb 2009 13:39:13 +0000

I'm disappointed that my house isn't there. They apparently made an error when they went down my street. You go down the street and it all of a sudden switches to some unknown place.

I reported the error to Google, but who knows when they will get around to fixing it.

Scott, you must have passed something else. Google doesn't use vans. They use cars for Street View.

By: Scott

Scott — Thu, 25 Dec 2008 13:31:34 +0000

I have passed two of these vans in the past year i recall..

One was going down 419 near the Salem & Roanoke County line

And the other was on Airport Rd at the tunnels

By: Greg

Greg — Fri, 19 Dec 2008 14:55:25 +0000

Also if you know Woodhaven rd you have to check it out. I recommend starting at 6100 woodhaven. This will put you at the intersection of woodhaven and Peters Creek. The go to street view and follow the street. I don't even recognize some of the roads they have mixed in there. I do know that woodhaven never spilts into 4 lanes with a concrete medium but it does on google! Very funny. Thanks for the column Matt. This has been my source of morning entertainment.

By: Greg

Greg — Fri, 19 Dec 2008 14:11:11 +0000

OK so from reading some of these posts It appears as though some sort of van came around taking pictures of my neighbordhood. I too find this a little creepy but a little cool too. My question is, how much did it cost to have this van driving all over the country just taking pictures of stuff?

By: Jen

Jen — Fri, 19 Dec 2008 12:00:01 +0000

It is kind of creepy, but like someone above said, the city's GIS site has similar photos. What's creepy is when someone emailed me the picture from that website and said, I know where you live.... Anyway, google map isn't the only site like this. Microsoft has a live map version that doesn't quite zoom as far in. Google maps crack me up anyway - they are very inaccurate in places. Check out Mill Mountain for example. Walnut Ave/Fishburn Parkway is completely wrong.

By: Mark R

Mark R — Thu, 18 Dec 2008 14:27:47 +0000

My house is in there, complete with un-mowed grass! I must have been out of town or something.

And yes, the Roanoke GIS site has the same sorts of images. But that site is not as easy to stumble upon as Google Maps' Street View. From now on every potential visitor who types in my address to get directions will see my yard in the unkempt state it happened to be in on that day.

By: Mason

Mason — Tue, 16 Dec 2008 18:20:38 +0000

My address is there, but based on details on the neighbor's houses, I can tell it's a fairly old photo.
And based on the trash cans out front, I can tell it was taken in the late afternoon on a Tuesday.

By: Ed S.

Ed S. — Tue, 16 Dec 2008 03:20:01 +0000

Probably not as bad as the many people that sign up for the "happy shopper" cards at grocery stores and such. I'm sure the stores (and whoever else has access to that information) have all sorts of information about the family. How many kids...what you eat...when the kids head off to college...what you've been seeing the doctor for...

By: Mike

Mike — Mon, 15 Dec 2008 19:32:10 +0000

The funny thing is pick a road like woodhaven road and follow it out. It changes from woodhaven to williamson to woodhaven to about 6 different roads. Someone could not set the GPS unit correctly in the van I guess or they have major problems. the intersections of Valley Point and Wood haven is funny.