clipped from network.nationalpost.com
By Cassandra Jowett, National Post
Google will launch its Street View map of Toronto in a few weeks, even as the company's vehicles criss-cross the GTA gathering additional street-level images.
Greater Toronto residents — and indeed anyone around the world — will soon be able to see everything from their front door to the sidewalk patio of their favourite restaurant on Google Street View, although the exact date has not been released. "We hope to launch it in the coming weeks," said Tamara Micner of Google Canada.
Google won't say how much of the GTA will be available on Street View, but neighbouring cities can be expected to be included as part of the "metropolitan area," according to Ms. Micner.
Google's cameras originally captured Toronto in late 2007, but the company announced on March 24 they would be driving across 11 Canadian cities, including Toronto, to collect more images to update footage or photograph missed locations.
Local blogs began reporting sightings of the vehicles around Toronto on the weekend.
Toronto firefighter Jon Lasiuk spotted one of the cars on the Gardiner Expressway on April 2, while running errands on his day off.
"I got on the Gardiner from Spadina and she [the driver] was right in front of me," he said. "She was driving at the regular highway speed, 90 km/h."
Mr. Lasiuk snapped a picture, which he posted to the photo-sharing Web site Flickr, and followed the car in the centre lane until he exited at the South Kingsway — the Google car continued westbound. He said he's not sure if the cameras were recording, but "it will be interesting to see if I'm in any of the images."
The Chevrolet Cobalts, modified with cameras on a large tripod mounted to the roof, have also been seen at Yonge and Eglinton, on Queen Street West and on University Avenue just south of Bloor. One car was seen in Brampton, near the intersection of Bovaird Drive and Hurontario Street.
Although Google could not confirm which Toronto locations the Street View cameras are focusing their lenses on this time, sites that have undergone dramatic transformations since 2007, such as the newly renovated Art Gallery of Ontario, will hopefully be updated.
"We are driving to collect additional Street View images around Canada, potentially to update and add to existing imagery," Ms. Micner said.
The array of nine panoramic cameras mounted to the roof of each car captures 360-degree horizontal and 290-degree vertical high-resolution images every few metres, which are then sewn together in post-production to create a seamless panoramic street-level view on Google Maps and Google Earth.
Users will have the option of switching to street level by dragging the yellow "Pegman" icon onto the map. Street View can also be accessed by zooming in all the way.
Traffic and pedestrians caught by the cameras will be frozen in time and, in response to worldwide privacy concerns, Google uses an automatic blurring technology to ensure people and licence plates can't be identified. It also allows users to request objectionable images be removed.
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