Virtual Insanity
Giving directions to our house just got easier. Last week, Richmond officially joined the noble ranks of many other cities cataloged in Google Maps’ Street View service. If you haven’t heard of Street View before, it’s a tool that allows you to explore select cities using millions of 360 degree, street-level photos- here’s how.
Anyway, as soon as I learned the news that Richmond was now Street View-able I did the obvious thing and immediately Google Mapped our address. How do we look?
I know you guys in places like New York and San Fran are scoffing at us because you’ve had this service for almost a year, but we’re honored to be 1 of 43 cities currently included to date. Well, if you consider Yosemite National Park a “city.” To see if your stomping ground made the cut click here.
And while we’re on the topic of new technology, you may have noticed a new “On-The-Go Status” feature on our sidebar. We’ve tapped the power of Twitter to send short updates from our cell phones directly to the blog. Fancy, I know.
This way we can keep you posted on the little things we come across while we’re out running errands, exploring the city or poking around a model home or three. If you’re already an expert “tweeter” (I’m still learning the jargon) or want to become one (it’s free), definitely let us know so we can become Twitter buddies.
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Comments
I about freaked when I realized that our house was actually on street view! I mean, we live in a fairly little town! Plus, it’s strange, the kids next door are outside playing in the photos.
Not sure yet if it’s cool or creepy! :)
I think it’s pretty cool, but it was weird to realize I knew exactly where your house is once I saw the Google photo. When I was a kid, some of our best friends lived back behind you at the corner of C***n and S***s, so we spent a lot of time over there. The house next door to yours always caught my attention because of the grass that turned bright yellow every winter.
It’s a great neighborhood to grow up in, although it’s changed a little - before they built the big road nearby, we used to go down there and ice skate.
Amen Aimee- we’re totally torn between excited and freaked out. But for some weird reason it’s comforting to be included among 43 cities, like we made the cut or something.
Mrs Limestone- After living in NYC for around 6 years, we’re certainly aware of the whole privacy problem. In fact, that’s probably one of the reasons we now find ourselves in the sunny south, with a big private backyard. I could totally see how New Yorkers could be wary or even peeved about Google Maps’ Street View for sure!
Jennifer- No wayyyyyyy. I can’t believe you know so much about our neighborhood. We’re totally so annoyed to live right next to the house with the yellow grass in the winter! The fact that everyone’s grass stays green year-round here is such an asset to the landscape and then our neighbors go and mess it all up by planting summer grass that dies every fall. Boo! But at least in the warmer months it’s super bright green and cheerful. It’s amazing that you know our little street so well and if you’re ever back you better knock on our door!
xo,
Sherry
My parents still live in the next neighborhood over from you, so I’m over there all the time. I have two small boys, though, and given that you just had a post about how everything you bring into your house is white…
just let me know when you’re ready for your stain removal/childproofing post!
Wow nice yard! And you’re so far away from your neighbors.
When I first heard of the Google street view feature, I thought to myself… golly do they have camera on every inch of the street? Turns out that there are vans driving up and down the street with a 360 camera mounted on top of ‘em, which some how makes me feel better.
Street view is not available in my city yet, but maybe when it does come to St. Louis, it could possibly help crack down on the street corner drug dealings that go on in the middle of the day.
Jennifer- Yeah, we figure that grass has been there for a while. Actually we got pretty excited about a recent excavation which caused them to reseed a portion of the yard (they used normal grass- yay!) but the rest of it is still seventies yellow in the winter. D’oh! As for your two small boys, we had our first baby in the house this weekend (our friends visited with their 6 month old) and it all went well. Of course he’s not even crawling yet so two small boys who can actually get around might be a bit more of a challenge!
Angeline- Yup, the car cams are so weird. We’ve never seen one drive by, but you can catch a glimpse one of ‘em on the Google Maps’ Steet View page. Ah, technology.
xo,
Sherry
This post had me curious, so I had to go put our address into google maps to see if Street View is available. It is, but it’s not exactly accurate. It looks like the right neighborhood, but it’s definitely not our house.
It’s a little goofy sometimes, McGee. When we entered our address it actually showed the house across the street. And when I entered my work address, it put me on an entirely different street. I guess we can only trust Google with so much of our lives…
-John
Yes, StreetView is far from accurate. I’m not sure if we should be glad for that or not!
My town became available to view a couple of months ago and I was so excited! But when I put in our address, it plopped me down in the middle of an intersection … so it was just a view of the steet, not of a house! At least that was a clue that something was wrong. ;)
A friend of mine in Dallas checked her address on StreetView. It showed a house that was 6 doors down on the opposite side of the street.
WOAH. I had no idea about the street view! Mine’s spot-on, complete with the little lanterns I had hanging on the porch. Huh.
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Not sure how its viewed in your town but a lot of people consider it a major invasion of privacy here in NY. I don’t think its an invasion as much as it feels a little creepy to me. Maybe b/c there is simply no privacy left in a city like NY.
Anyway - I live on a block that doesn’t have a google view map. At least not yet. I guess they know there isn’t much going on in front of my house. hehe