My favourite newish product from Google is part of Maps and is called Google Street. It is absolutely the coolest tool imaginable. You can literally take a walk down a street and see what's going on. I sometimes just plunk the little moving man icon randomly down somewhere on the globe and see what images come up. You can look up your street of your childhood home and see how things look (bad?!). I recently Google Streeted a dance studio in downtown Phoenix because I had never been to this neighbourhood and was a little nervous about how sketchy it was (it was!). Seeing it on Google Street confirmed for me that I didn't want to go there alone, so my husband accompanied me. I see great partnerships in the future between Google Street and realtors, as clients can "walk" down streets and potentially click on homes for sale, which could then lead you to virtual tours of interiors of homes. If you are travelling and need to learn about hotel locations or wherabouts of sights you are visiting, go to Google Street and take a walk. For my upcoming New York trip this fall, I can look at specific streets and see whether or not they offer what I am looking for, for I want to pack in the most fun in the time I will have.
Not every street on earth has been catalogued, but no doubt this is in the works. You will be amazed at what you can see. Once you land on a street of interest you can walk up and down, and turn completely around for a 360 degree experience. Google Street is the way of the future and I look forward to seeing more images for more locations as well as more current footage. I recommend this tool for the traveller or the merely curious.
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