http://www.thisishullandeastriding.co.uk/news/East-Yorkshire-scenes-added-Google-s-Street-View/article-1898962-detail/article.html

Region's streets on Google Street View
Wednesday, March 10, 2010, 06:30
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PHOTOGRAPHS of you, your house and even your car could be viewed by anyone in the world from tomorrow.

Snaps of street scenes across East Yorkshire will be added to Google's online Street View service.

Users can zoom in on images and take a virtual walk along whole streets.

The tool, providing 360-degree images of public roads, was launched in the UK in March last year.

Initially, the service included images of 25 cities.


Hull and the East Riding is in the last batch of areas to be photographed by Google's Street View team.

The news has been met with both outrage and delight across the region.

John Dowson, 37, of North Bar Without in Beverley, will request his house is removed.

He said: "It's an infringement of people's civil liberties. It seems wrong that the default is people can opt out rather than opt in to have their houses pictured.

"People like my elderly mother won't be aware their house is online and wouldn't know what to do about it."

David Whiteland, 75, of Beverley, said: "I suppose it is a sign of the times, but I don't like the idea of my house being on it.

"It is an invasion of privacy. I will be removing myself."

But David Westwood, 61, of Saltshouse Road in east Hull, does not feel his privacy has been invaded.

He said: "It shows just what anyone can see when they walk down the street.

"I think it's a great tool. My son and his family emigrated to New Zealand and we've been able to go online and have a look around where he lives."

Joan Goodwin, 43, of east Hull, said: "People can request that Google remove their house or picture of themselves so I don't see what all the fuss is about."

Google has said it expects an influx of such requests following the full launch.

The company has received hundreds of requests for images to be removed, including pictures of people leaving sex shops or vomiting in the street. To protect privacy, Street View automatically blurs faces and vehicle number plates.

A spokesperson for Google said: "We try to blur everyone, so people are not identifiable.

"The image blurring is not perfect. If we have missed anyone out, we apologise about that.

"The technology for blurring can also be overzealous."

In one instance, Colonel Sanders's face on a sign belonging to fast food giant KFC was blurred.

"It usually only takes 24 hours after a report for it to be removed," said the spokesperson.

"People without access to the Internet can also write and we will deal with their request."

The online search giant also stressed that people can request pictures to be removed for whatever reason.

The spokesperson said: "People can simply report an inappropriate image using an icon at the bottom of the picture.

"It may be themselves, their house or their car. It doesn't matter what the reason is."

The technology can be used by people to get directions, check out a holiday destination or restaurant, get a helping hand with geography homework, or just get to know their town better.

Google says the tool is very popular with house-hunters.

Businesses can benefit from the technology by embedding Google Maps into their websites to help visitors locate them.

Tourism and business chiefs in the region have welcomed the news.

Janet Reuben, chief executive of Visit Hull and East Yorkshire, said: "The Internet is a powerful tool for prospective visitors, allowing them to explore an area before they arrive. Having this resource for Hull and East Yorkshire will allow people to get a taste of the culture and beauty of the area and it has the potential to inspire more tourists to come and see it with their own eyes."

Richard Kendall, of Hull and Humber Chamber of Commerce, said: "We will be encouraging businesses to make use of this very useful tool.

"This is very good news for the area."

If you spot a funny image on Street View, or a picture you are concerned about, call the Mail on (01482) 389112 or email c.tanner@mailnewsmedia.co.uk

I have just taken a look at some of the images taken in Hull on Street View.

Some areas of the city centre look pretty good but others do not. Some of the images are quite grim and the streets dirty and littered with lots of rubbish... doesn't exactly paint a good picture.

Not very impressed.

Yeah, funny that. I've noticed a similar thing with every other city on there too.

Glad they picked a sunny day. Some of the buildings in the city centre look glorious. It must have been a sunday though. It's deader than Elvis.

Definitely a Sunday - it's more than obvious it's a Sunday morning after everyone has dumped litter after a Saturday night out.

The bloomin thing could do with an updae already! and that's saying something considering how we all like to moan at the lack of progress in the city, haha.

Noticed within being on it for 5 mins - Thorntons is the old Thorntons, Hugh Rice is now Pandora, shut down stores don't have those nice window displays, lol. Massive shame about Barclays's in QV Square being U/C still, too. H.Samuel hasn't opened it's shutters yet and so looks closed down.

Noticed a funny quirk around the marina too. On the Wellington St. side, the Pepi's building is still there, but on the fruit market side it's flattened and landscaped.

Also, has anybody ever heard of the apparently renamed 'Spring Bank Avenue' in West Hull :lol:

lol erm...still on streetview :shifty:

Hull is beautiful isn't it. I mean apart from the bit's that aren't, obviously.

But even the bit's that aren't 'beautiful' are still sort of beautiful if you know what I mean. Or at least, usually have some interesting merit. And you can't say that for every town.

My point being, when you take time to really look and investigate the urban fabric - even some of the most fucked up post-industrial tin-shed wastelands around the likes of wincolmlee - you can find some ancient brickwork or a plaque or a random old rusty crane or a perfect old merchants office building. The ghosts of the past are still there. Even more so than you'd find in more developed, and recently economically successful cities, where a lot of it has been erased for bad student accommodation and call centres.

I suppose the trick is to use all this history and uniqueness and truly 'develop' it (as opposed to 'redevelop' it) to create more prosperity and opportunity in unique ways. There are still odd questions that crop up though, because improving the city centre should not just be a case of the major regeneration schemes, but also the little things, you know questions like "Councillor Minns. Why is one of the grandest civic squares in the country still surrounded by shit 80's paving?"

We just aren't seeing the progress we should be in my view, but when and somehow if it could click together it would be spectacular.

Sorry if i've gone off on a few tangents there BTW lol

lol. I was just doing the same thing. Looking down wincolmlee on streetview.

Some brilliant old buildings down there. Most are currently empty with plants growing from the walls *sigh* real shame.

It is like a window to yesteryear down there. I love it

Have posted a tour of the city centre in the city talk section to show some of those hard-to-find pics of views of our fine city. http://www.skyscrapercity.com/showthread.php?t=1089689

Nice work legs, pretty comprehensive.

That is the Hull I know! Nice one Legs. Reminded me of my last visit involving a few of Hull's incredible real pubs:

Ye Olde Blue Bell:

One of two pubs in Hull you can only find by straying from the main roads into back alleys. Following the alley in the photograph leads you to the pub, offset to the left; and a beer garden (beer yard?) beyond.

The pub itself comprises a long bar with another room behind. Those coming from the Black Boy or White Harte will find it less antique in feel: but the symbols on the left testify to the quality of the beer served here.

After a period of closure the Blue Bell reopened for business on Friday 13 February, 1998. If you'd not been recently, the renovation is far from obvious: perhaps that's how it should be done. It's certainly good to see they haven't levelled the floor under the new carpet or removed the (now redundant) bell push buttons at intervals along the seat backs.

http://www.swldxer.co.uk/oldbluebell.jpg http://eyorks.com/hullpub/exterior/bluebell.jpg

Ye Olde White Harte c.1550

The White Harte can only be reached from an alleyway that runs between Silver Street and Bowlalley Lane. It carries its history with a certain self-consciousness, but I suppose that if you'd been around since the 1550s, you might too. The White Harte's entry into the latter half of the second millennium was secured in 1969, when, subject to certain conditions, some women were allowed into one room. These days, I am reliably informed they even have ladies' loos.

http://www.yeoldewhiteharte.co.uk/images/large/100_0628.jpg http://mw2.google.com/mw-panoramio/photos/medium/13209783.jpg


Ye Olde Black Boy: c. 1330

Since they refurbished Nellies' in Beverley a decade or two ago, Ye Olde Black Boy is the definitive genuine traditional Olde English pub.

What that means, of course, is that it's a bit grotty. There's lots of dark paintwork - either by design or through generations of tobacco staining; and the facilities leave much to be desired. Having said that, time has not stood still. Those who've not visited recently will be surprised to find that the Black Boy has sprouted two new rooms on the first floor - one with a bar - that effectively double the size of the place without detracting at all from it. Meanwhile the assorted real ales are superb; and that the atmosphere just crawls out the walls and grabs you by the throat.

The site of the Black Boy dates back to the 1330s, though the first reference to licenced premises on the site was in 1729. The site has housed a pub intermittently since. The existing building is a legacy of many changes over a long period of time; with parts of the structure dating back to the 17th and 18th centuries.


http://static.panoramio.com/photos/original/13207143.jpg http://eyorks.com/hullpub/interior/blackbi3.jpg


Text from Virtual Pub Crawl of Hull http://search.atomz.com/search/?sp_a=sp0601fb01&sp_f=iso-8859-1&sp_q=ye+olde+blue+bell

Meanwhile the assorted real ales are superb; and that the atmosphere just crawls out the walls and grabs you by the throat. :lol:

Ha ha someone has been doing their homework on the Black Boy's ghost stories...:cheers:

lol. I was just doing the same thing. Looking down wincolmlee on streetview.

Some brilliant old buildings down there. Most are currently empty with plants growing from the walls *sigh* real shame.

It is like a window to yesteryear down there. I love it

Apart from high flags mill & what where the Winchester "massage palour" & maybe four other sites most of Wincolmlee is in use,

might have posted before, but on a main road & disused for 60+ yrs ? speakes volumes about the local economy !

http://maps.google.co.uk/maps?f=q&source=s_q&hl=en&geocode=&q=hull&sll=53.778366,-0.251677&sspn=0.003087,0.01369&gl=uk&ie=UTF8&hq=&hnear=Hull,+United+Kingdom&ll=53.754446,-0.348301&spn=0,359.94524&z=15&layer=c&cbll=53.754554,-0.34834&panoid=p5LWJM2PUKHlo7-eIq9SvA&cbp=12,54.4,,0,-5

It's been mentioned that a developer wants to turn it into a restaurant and apartments, keeping the original, remaining facade.... but the backwards thinkers wish for it to remain a bombsite, because it's the only remaining building of a WW2 bombsite.

yes, saw it in HDM with glass frontage

there so much land & property in hull which has never been used in my life time,

unfortunately those who own the land often have too high an expectation of its market value.... or seem to working on a land bank philosophy.

also too many people seem to be against developments (of any kind) and put derelict buildings above future growth...

land bank mostley to off set tax ?, think of the former proposed tesco on mount pleasant

How often does this get updated?

I noticed today that a random section of Ferensway has been updated, from Bronx Menswear (which wasn't on the older version) to, well, I'm not sure how far, as Hull Truck still has it's old logo (which by the way was 1000 times better than the newer one, IMO), but CULT is now Superdry Store on Streetview which is fairly recent.

Noticed the film TED advertised on the REEL cinema boards on the back of the Aleef newsagents cabin - that came out July 2012.

Why would they randomly update a small section of one road though?

The Fruit Market area has also been updated. Interestingly the new views were taken whilst last year's Freedom Festival was being set up!

Steve

It says in the bottom left when the image was taken.

Have posted a tour of the city centre in the city talk section to show some of those hard-to-find pics of views of our fine city. http://www.skyscrapercity.com/showthread.php?t=1089689

I'm fairly new to Skyscraper but each time I look another jem is mentioned and this one is superb. I like photography and these pictures just really do it for me, no one about so you are focused on the architecture and as I know Hull has a lot to offer if only people look. Many thanks for this link legs.