10 February 2012

Google Maps moves indoors

From a story at the BBC several months ago:
Google has started a pilot project allowing the public to look inside shops and other businesses found on its maps...

Initially the roll-out is limited to select locations including London, Paris and a number of cities in Japan, Australia, New Zealand and the US. The US company said it was beginning the process by inviting the most searched types of businesses to request a visit by its photographers. Google said these included restaurants, hotels, shops, gyms and vehicle repair workshops...

Business owners are told they must warn their customers and employees about the photoshoot before it begins. Google has promised it will blur out or refuse to publish any images that include bystanders. The photoshoots will produce 360-degree images using fish-eye and wide-angle lenses as well as stills.
A clever marketing idea.

4 comments:

  1. Beyond marketing, I would say this is beneficial. I have been frustrated by some business that sit far back from a road or reside in a parking lot that includes a private street that is not mapped. If I could see a picture in the store, that would help immensely. Especially if you could actually get an idea of what they stock!

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  2. This practice seems to have some dire security implications - particularly where a building's floor plan would inform a potential attacker's tactics (e.g. posts for security personnel and cameras, locations of valuables like tip jars and cash registers, entrance/exit points, etc).

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    Replies
    1. And yes, letting people actually walk into the place and then come back again could have the same consequence...

      Except the photos would be of an unknown date and things could have changed by then and would only really be used by lazy criminals.

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    2. The nice thing about forcing criminals to actually show up to case a business: they probably won't know where all the security cameras are on their first visit, so police may have a few good shots of their face (particularly if they're not bright enough to change clothes and/or staff recognize them from their first visit).

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