Despite its futuristic feel, Google street view is almost old enough to drink in many countries, as it was launched in 2007. Very quickly, Google realized that showing thousands of people’s faces alongside what might be their homes was an issue, so the following year they also rolled out face blurring software.
While it’s hard to pin down what is the exact “use case” of something like this, the truth is that it’s just a cool tool. After all, the internet is full of evidence that many people’s knowledge of geography is downright terrible, so this seems like at the very least a step in the right direction.
While the idea seems deceptively simple, just hiring folks to ride around in cars equipped with special cameras, Google had to overcome all sorts of different challenges. For example, in Japan and Switzerland, their cameras were too high and would hit the bottom of some low-hanging bridges.
#8 Penguin And Penny Farthing
#10 Flying Rabbit
