Google's 'Street View' kicks starts with Bangalore in India
By siliconindia   |   Friday, 27 May 2011, 19:19 IST
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Bangalore: Do you want to plan your holiday sitting at your home? Want to hang out in the coolest restaurant of your city? Here you are, with Google Maps you can now have all the information without ever having left the comfort of your home. Google will soon be doing rounds of Bangalore to collect images for its 'Street View' feature in Google Maps. This Google maps service 'Street View' was already available in more than 100 cities in 27 countries like Stonehenge in the United Kingdom, Pompei in Italy, Legoland in California, and Versailles in France. However, this is the first time that the internet giant has set its footprint in an Indian city for its Google maps. Street View in Google Maps lets you explore by viewing and navigating places through 360-degree street-level imagery, whether you are looking at locations in your town or across the globe. With Street View, you can take a look at a restaurant before going there, find beautiful places around the world to visit on your next holiday or look at neighborhoods where you might like to move. Bangalore will be witnessing Google cars driving and taking street level photographs of public locations around the city, also Google Trike which is a specially designed three-wheel rickshaw will be seen with a camera system mounted on top. It will start gathering images from selected locations within the week. The images will be made accessible at a later date in Street View on Google Maps. Vinay Goel, Product Head, Google India, said, "We decided to start driving in Bangalore because it is the IT capital of India, and we feel that the IT savvy users will be able to leverage the benefits of the product to the fullest. Businesses can also benefit from the Street View technology by embedding Google Maps directly into their site for free. Hotels can use it to show off the convenience of their location, and restaurants can use it to raise awareness." To view street-level imagery in Google one has to enter Google Maps, click and drag Pegman to the place that you want to see. Roads with Street View imagery will appear with a blue border. You can also enter Street View by zooming in all the way, for areas where Street View imagery is available. In order to rotate your view in Street View, use the wheel in the control panel at the top left-hand corner or use the left and right arrows on your keyboard or click and drag with your mouse. To walk down a street, click one of the white arrows overlaid on the street or use the up and down arrows on your keyboard. To jump and view a place, click the rectangular 'waffle' or circular 'pancake' shape lying flat where your mouse is pointing. When there is a magnifying glass within the pancake, clicking it will zoom in on the current image and to exit Street View, click at the top right-hand corner or zoom out to view the map.

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