This is really cool, everyone here is going to have a blast. Google updated their Street View database and Tampa is in it. You can virtually walk around the city. It looks like the pictures are a few months old (Element is at the top of the garage).

For example, here's Skypoint (http://maps.google.com/?ie=UTF8&ll=27.951175,-82.458186&spn=0.018121,0.020621&z=16&layer=c&cbll=27.949447,-82.460598&cbp=1,11.200450160771709,,0,-47.81350482315116).

HAHAHA you can see my car illegally parked on S. Brevard Ave right at kennedy!
Its the Green car parked on the sidewalk
I park there EVERYday lol

This should be great for "anyone have pictures of X?" questions.

Oh goody... I've been waiting for this.

That's pretty cool. The pics of my area in Tampa (Seminole Hts) look to have been taken in December. I can see my neighbors Christmas decorations in the yard.

streetview rocks!

This is really cool! Especially since I was just expecting it to have downtown.

There are still some gaps, but I expect the map will become more filled in with time. An impressive feat regardless.

Hee hee! The giant Christmas stockings we hung off the balcony are still up. 'Course that could mean it's late January...

^I'm fortunate enough to live in a dead zone, because they probably thought I was behind a gate, when I'm not really.

it's kinda interesting to see which subdivisions they avoided, most likely because of who lives there.

My parent's house is really close to where they ended the map in Odessa.
Van Dyke and Gunn is where it ends up there, My parents live off of Tarpon Springs and Gunn which is like 2 miles away.

Wow, I saw my car parked outside my office! This is an amazing program.

That's weak. I went to check out my old house, and it's completely overgrown. They've let the trees get so out of hand you literally can't see the house from the street. The only gaps are the driveways. The front driveway only shows the garage, and on the side driveway, where you'd normally see the house, there's the owner pulling out in her Suburban, completely blocking the shot. What a disappointment!

Still pretty cool to check out the new developments from the street level...

creeeeeepy ,..... I was looking at my Jeep. could even see the sign I had in the back of the window.


Ive been talking about this all week..... how is it they get these Pictures? ... I know its just not someone riding around that makes no sense specially since you can do a 360.

Ive been talking about this all week..... how is it they get these Pictures? ... I know its just not someone riding around that makes no sense specially since you can do a 360.

It's a clever camera setup involving multiple cameras (for the 360º panorama), a vehicle and a GPS. That much is pretty simple, but the real magic is the software to match up all the photos correctly and then overlay them on the map.

The photos are all taken by Immersive Media (http://www.immersivemedia.com/) and their cars look like this (http://www.flickr.com/photos/andycarvin/581302759/). I'm not sure who did the software, but I'm guessing Google.

Take A Look Around With Googley Eyes
By Steve Otto

The Tampa Tribune

Published: April 6, 2008

Updated:

Who needs a study when all you have to do is Google?

But let's start with the study. Last week, the American Institute of Architecture announced it had selected Tampa as one of 10 cities it was going to help beautify.

Well, they aren't actually going to do it. I mean, this is not one of those Habitat for Humanity deals where people come in with hammers and nails and do something. They aren't going to chip in to pay for it, either.

What they are going to do is fly down a team of architects to spend three days and offer up suggestions in a number of areas, from upgrading the urban core to the city's water quality. In that inflated sense it is, as Councilwoman Linda Saul-Sena said, "a big deal."

My problem is that we have studied and restudied our downtown to death. I've seen plans for a new urban core of parks and quaint brick streets with families strolling along sidewalks, pausing at equally quaint outdoor cafes.

I've seen more than a few plans for the so-called arts district, with everything from that first art museum design - the one that looked like an aircraft carrier and cost us $11 million before we threw it away - to plans for a park built around a lake that swept in from the river.

Too Late For Sammy And Frank

I've seen towering architectural skyscrapers, from the Sur Americana Hotel to the Trump Tower. I was pulling for the Sur Americana, which was supposed to go up across the street from Mother Trib. It was going to have a revolving restaurant on top and they were planning on booking Frank Sinatra and Sammy Davis Jr.

They may be a little late.

I saw the plans for that last park they put up on the old Curtis Hixon site. That architect claimed it featured the outline of every flower native to the area. The only problem was you had to go 30 stories up in the beer can building next to it just to make out the designs.

The park itself was short on trees and shorter on people.

But I wish the architects luck while they're here in the Big Guava. My guess is they'll want to redesign the town to complement its greatest artistic achievement - The Exploding Chicken.

Who's That Peeping Googler?

For a closer look, it might be worthwhile to go to the Internet. Last month, Google announced that it was displaying street-level maps of Tampa.

Have you checked this thing out? I mean, you go to Google maps, link to "Street Level" and put in an address. All of a sudden you are on the street where you live. You can be on any street of course, but who isn't going to check out his or her house first?

If those architects were serious, they could get on the Internet and look up and down the city. It won't take any kind of arts degree to see an ugly city with crumbling streets, poor planning and traffic nightmares.

This Google thing is not only nifty, it's scary. You can cruise up and down your street and then get a close-up of your house. I mean REALLY close, as in the weeds in your front yard or the TV set going inside your living room.

It's not a live shot but it's obviously pretty recent. For your sake, I hope you didn't have any secret visitors the day they took the pictures and there was that strange car parked in your driveway. I'm guessing lawyers are going to have a good time with this gadget.

Keyword, Otto Graphs to read and comment on Steve's blog.

Find this article at:
http://www2.tbo.com/content/2008/apr/06/me-take-a-look-around-with-googley-eyes

Lol.... "An ugly city" Where is he looking?
If he thinks its ugly... Why doesn't he go somewhere else?

Steve Otto has always been a windbag. If he thinks our traffic is bad, I suggest he look elsewhere around the state and get back to us. Perfect example, I departed my office at the St Pete Times Forum yesterday @ 5:08 and I was able to make it Florida & Fletcher by 5:30....thats not bad in the height of rush hour traffic.

I had heard that Google had street level photos, but I figured it would be downtown and a few key thoroughfares. It looks like they've photographed every public street in the county. That's both extremely cool and slightly disturbing. I can see my car parked in the driveway.

Steve Otto has always been a windbag. If he thinks our traffic is bad, I suggest he look elsewhere around the state and get back to us. Perfect example, I departed my office at the St Pete Times Forum yesterday @ 5:08 and I was able to make it Florida & Fletcher by 5:30....thats not bad in the height of rush hour traffic.

Maybe its the route you take? Traffic does suck here but its not as bad as some other places in Florida.