Thursday, October 11, 2012

How Google Map Does It?

So to continue my previous post, I searched for things that tell us about how Google Map can get whatever pictures of every part of the world it wants almost effortlessly.



The answer was not hard to discover.

According to the following website:
http://blogs.howstuffworks.com/2009/05/22/how-did-google-earth-take-pictures-of-houses-around-the-world/
it is suggested that those street views were taken by cars with cameras on top while driving around. Another suggestion is that, there's a camera (Geo Eye 1) outside the Earth like a satellite which can capture photos of all over world.

However, there are also websites talking about some interesting moments of Google Map pictures while they captured people climbing over fences to steal, stealing cars, pointing someone with a gun, being naked on the street etc...




It is quite funny to discover these things but I couldn't tell whether it's for better or for worse. For people who are doing bad things that they might get captured by Google Map, police can use these photos as evidences to fight crimes. However, on the other hand, people in general usually do not want to be captured while they are sun-bathing without wearing anything or making out in the public...

I personally appreciate so much how Google Map helps me a lot in searching for directions or locating certains places. However, if it is invading our privacy which is inappropriate, I will doubt that Google Map is doing the right thing.

Nonetheless, it is hard to control these activities by regulations. The information on the Internet is now bombarding like an expanding universe. And I'm worrying not only Google Map, but also other Internet giants are going to access as much personal information as they can from people all over the world in order to continue to develop their "great work" or invent some online tools that are even more powerful and influential, yet we don't know they are for better living or not...





4 comments:

  1. there are cctvs everywhere nowadays. u a captured in every minute. i just take it easy and pretend not to know. i guess i can live happier. u cant change. u can only get used to it

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    1. I heard about that before and it's true. I'm just not sure whether Hong Kong's also got CCTV everywhere... Hope it wouldn't be so many in the city... :(

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  2. Indeed, cctvs are present everywhere in Hong Kong, not to mention the ones by Google street viewer. Therefore, it is easy to trace anybody who has done any wrongdoing in HK. However, it is always difficult to compromise between privacy and crime prevention.

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    1. Right! Especially for popular and big cities like London and New York. I heard that CCTVs are almost everywhere in these two cities so the police can trace criminals using these cameras. I know it's for fighting crimes but I don't really feel really good about it anyway...

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