Street View Mistakes

[silverback1065]

Are we sure the Ben Franklin guy isn't the Street View operator attempting to clean or otherwise maintain the camera?

Hmmm. I thought it was the guy standing outside another car if you back up one frame (to the southwest), but the clothes (and image date) are different. So it could be. Still creepy as hell.

Wow I totally agree so creepy!

[kphoger]

Are we sure the Ben Franklin guy isn't the Street View operator attempting to clean or otherwise maintain the camera?

I just assumed it was.  In fact, nothing else even occurred to me.

[vdeane]

Are we sure the Ben Franklin guy isn't the Street View operator attempting to clean or otherwise maintain the camera?

I just assumed it was.  In fact, nothing else even occurred to me.

Same here.  I'm pretty sure the street view cameras are high enough that you physically have to climb on top of the car in order to stare into the camera like that.

[Signal]

ANOTHER LEAF ON THE LENS!

Look at the street view within the "routes" in blue below
http://goo.gl/maps/wQLQC
http://goo.gl/maps/nYZdI

[Signal]

The corner of Briggs Road and Mission Rock Road in Santa Paula, CA has a man looking straight into the camera.

where is this?  those two streets do not intersect.

Here: http://goo.gl/maps/b8glB  <--Pan the camera around after the page loads.

(I had the same problem you did)

Here's another one!
https://maps.google.com/maps?cbll=35.218014,-101.705454&cbp=12,59.34,,0,-90&hl=en&gl=us&ie=UTF8&t=h&layer=c&panoid=sdHTMTjWyGJPpJ8x-Om6cQ&source=embed&ll=35.217768,-101.705418&spn=0.001562,0.00284&z=19&vpsrc=0

[huskeroadgeek]

I-5 near Olympia. Literally nothing. https://www.google.com/maps?ll=47.058425,-122.797888&spn=0.001429,0.0025&dg=optperm&t=h&z=19&layer=c&cbll=47.058425,-122.797888&panoid=EfpRnakmvdMCrJCyTN_EyQ&cbp=12,223.27,,0,1.32

I've seen that sort of thing in quite a few places and it's weird. I've always wondered what caused that.

What's even weirder is that it covers both sides of the interstate. I've seen a few places where there were blank images on one side of a 4 lane highway but not the other.

[kphoger]

The corner of Briggs Road and Mission Rock Road in Santa Paula, CA has a man looking straight into the camera.

where is this?  those two streets do not intersect.

Here: http://goo.gl/maps/b8glB  <--Pan the camera around after the page loads.

(I had the same problem you did)

Here's another one!
https://maps.google.com/maps?cbll=35.218014,-101.705454&cbp=12,59.34,,0,-90&hl=en&gl=us&ie=UTF8&t=h&layer=c&panoid=sdHTMTjWyGJPpJ8x-Om6cQ&source=embed&ll=35.217768,-101.705418&spn=0.001562,0.00284&z=19&vpsrc=0

I love how the guy just spins in a circle when you pan left or right.

I love! how the guy just spins in a circle! when you pan left or right!
(Sorry! exclamation points must be very important to you!)

[Pete from Boston]

I am sad to discover that they have gone back and re-shot West Virginia Route 39 in Gauley Bridge.  For several years, there was an excellent series of shots of a police car on the side of the road whose interest was aroused by the passing Google car, with it then pulling out, lights ablaze, until finally the Google car was pulled over some distance down the road.  It was fun watching the story unfold frame by frame as you moved on down the road.  Kind of like an Internet filmstrip.

[Pete from Boston]

The corner of Briggs Road and Mission Rock Road in Santa Paula, CA has a man looking straight into the camera.

Oh my god, IT'S LARRY DAVID!

[Signal]

I love how the guy just spins in a circle when you pan left or right.

I love! how the guy just spins in a circle! when you pan left or right!
(Sorry! exclamation points must be very important to you!)

...and the point of saying that was?

[kphoger]

I love how the guy just spins in a circle when you pan left or right.

I love! how the guy just spins in a circle! when you pan left or right!
(Sorry! exclamation points must be very important to you!)

...and the point of saying that was?

It was actually this:  "I love how the guy just spins in a circle when you pan left or right."

[vtk]

More of a driver who wasn't thinking too carefully about his job:



If you're trying to collect imagery of the road, it doesn't help to follow directly behind a large truck.

[kphoger]

↑ Just looks like stopped traffic to me.  Look at the following distance of the cars in the left lane. ↑

[vtk]

Traffic may have been stopped in that one shot, but still, it's not a very useful view of the road.  Even in other spots along the street, the truck isn't that much farther away.  The GSV car should, considering its mission of acquiring useful imagery of the road and surrounding scenery, leave a much greater following distance between itself and a view-obstructing vehicle.  If another vehicle decides to fill the vacuum, that's fine as long as said vehicle is not another large opaque truck.