Google Street View

Yes, I admit. Like x number of people in Finland, also I've been checking some familiar sceneries in Google Street View. First, it's a lot of fun, but after some time you start to get tired of the sceneries you see every day anyway. At the moment, though, when the world here is covered in snow and ice, it's quite relaxing to watch the neighbourhood in the summer, as it was when the pics were taken. It's funny how the year is such a long time that you tend to forget about the other seasons...

For me, thinking how it all was about 20 years ago, it feels amazing to browse through such a database. I always wonder what to say, when the children ask me how did it feel like when there was no internet. What did we do with our pastime? (Yes, what did we do? Anyone?) And about 40 years ago they were asking "where were you when Kennedy was murdered?". Now they are bound to ask "where were you when Google car drove past?". And you have to be pretty disciplined, if you go to the Street View and not think even for a second "I wonder what I did last summer". Well, if you are a lucky (or unlucky) one, now everyone will know what you did last summer. For me, it took some time to locate my car, but I'm pretty sure I finally found it. (No, I won't tell you where it is. I leave some room for your dirty imagination.)

Anyway, browsing through the Street View sure gives me some ideas. I wonder if you could use it to ubiquitous or interactive media. When people get tired of geocaching in real life, they can go for the Street View. There sure would be some room for looking for clues.


This pic is by Google (surprise, surprise!)