Amazing images from Google Street View

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Tumblr M2Y637Lhop1Qzun8Oo1 1280 Jon Rafman has compiled a breathtaking collection of bizarre, moving, upsetting, and compelling photos culled from Google Street View. His site is called "9-eyes," for the number of cameras on the top of the Google Street View cars. Jon Rafman's "9-eyes" (via Smithsonian)

David Pescovitz is Boing Boing's co-editor/managing partner. He's also a research director at Institute for the Future. On Instagram, he's @pesco.

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picaflor

oooph, NSFW
- Stonewalker
  
  Just a little bit of street ass.
  - Ipo
    
    Pretty big bit.
    I take that back.
    Not pretty.
  - picaflor
    
    Hmmm, no. A little too much. All the adjectives fit the photos as I scrolled but then !
    At home, it wouldn’t even register but at work is a different story.
    - Toxa
      
      If you cannot surf the net at work, don’t do it.
      - strangefriend
        
        Baby got back.
- ChicagoD
  
  Where?
- voiceinthedistance
  
  They might have been wise to take a little of their budget spent on facial recognition software and applied it to ass recognition software. Granted, it would be employed with less frequency than the face version, but it might have spared us from the last image on that site.
Quiche de Resistance

Hey, nigh-omniscient multi-billion-dollar media juggernaut, ya lookin for a date?
http://openid.anonymity.com/8EZa9yVy happosai

Disappointing that the site doesn’t add links to the original street views, so people could go exploring around these images…
- bronwen culhane
  
  Agreed! I would love to know where tigers stroll through parking lots all casual-like.
  - RedShirt77
    
    I can only imagine that as you proceed down the street, the tiger slide show is fascinating.
  - RedShirt77
    
    http://roamingthegooglestreets.blogspot.com/2012/01/tiger-on-prowl-at-boulder-co.html
    
    Actually it looks like its not a real tiger.
    - LaylaSV
      
      Please let the tiger be real. Please let the tiger be real. Please let the tiger be real.
    - http://profile.yahoo.com/RQNN5BCTBAPHOJ6FFKG7AATGXU jokerlola
      
      It’s not a real tiger. That is a tiger statue on Valmont Rd. in Boulder CO. I’ve passed it many times. I think the tiger statue is in Denver now. on South Broadway.
  - Sam Bordeaux
    
    I can tell from the mountains in the background, that it’s somewhere in Boulder, Colorado, but I can’t figure out where exactly. Also, alas, not a real tiger.
- http://lubke.net Flashman
  
  Yeah, the context is important. If it’s in the States, e.g., that guy in the orange clothes might indeed be an escaped prisoner, but if that’s South Africa (as I suspect it is), orange coveralls are standard issue work wear.
  - http://twitter.com/gussilber Gus Silber
    
    Yep, that’s South Africa. Standard-issue workmen’s outfit, standard-issue dry winter veldscape.
- smallteam
  
  keitai, the VirtualGlobeTrotting.com site might be to your liking>
  
  http://virtualglobetrotting.com/map/camera-shot-of-hydro-pruf-building-from-sopranos-opening-theme/view/?service=0
- http://www.gyrofrog.com/ Gyrofrog
  
  In contrast, this pink gorilla probably isn’t fooling anyone, but I am so glad it’s visible on Google’s Street View (and that it’s still there).
Stonewalker

“Get out of here stalker”
http://twitter.com/bazilisk Sylvia

I highly doubt these are all from Street View. I call shenanigans. Especially with the lack of the link to the Google Maps view of it.
- gokid
  
  yah. like, how did this shot happen??? INSIDE a Sea World? http://www.tumblr.com/photo/1280/9eyes/1593484855/1/tumblr_lbzvz4IBLr1qzun8o
  - lafave
    
    Google is taking its Street View mapping service indoors. No, it won’t capture you vegging out on your couch, but the feature will be exploring the interiors of certain businesses.
    
    http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2395479,00.asp
    - gokid
      
      Just realized that after I saw this random one… Didn’t know they started doing this…! http://maps.google.es/?ll=40.424817,-3.687308&spn=0.013052,0.027874&t=m&layer=c&cbll=40.424818,-3.691384&panoid=5Fhtx11boV68y5xqD35UYg&cbp=12,226.39,,0,4.17&z=16
      - Antinous / Moderator
        
        Immediately searches for addresses of famous SF bath houses and sex clubs.
ChicagoD

I feel like prostitutes standing around on streets waiting to get picked up are not “amazing.” Maybe “interesting” or “awkward” but not “amazing.”
Deanna Wood

Now I’m curious how the street view vehicles work. I think I would be tempted to say, “Um. You guys seem busy. Maybe I’ll just come back later…” And also do the drivers ever call in to report crimes/accidents/babies escaping from the Gucci store, etc.?
- SamSam
  
  The driver isn’t doing anything active. They are just driving a fixed route of streets, while the cameras on top just click at fixed intervals. The driver probably never even notices half the stuff that they capture. Do you think you’ve noticed every arrest-in-progress you’ve ever passed?
  
  And even if they do, the drivers are on a budget, on a time-crunch, and they’re not about to go through the process of deleting a street’s-worth of photos and run the street again without good reason.
  - Deanna Wood
    
    I was mostly kidding, but I think I would notice a dead body lying in the street in the aftermath of an accident or crime and maybe come back later? Or maybe they’re not allowed to do that? I was also just wondering if a driver comes upon an accident that has just occurred or sees something clearly illegal being done, are they allowed/encouraged to report it? Just curious what their instructions are. For the curious, here’s a little more explanation of the project: http://www.artfagcity.com/2009/08/12/img-mgmt-the-nine-eyes-of-google-street-view/
tedrock

The second picture featured here was taken on Valmont Road just east of 30th in Boulder, CO. That cat is a piece of ‘home decor’ used to draw people into a home decor showroom.

http://goo.gl/maps/Jb2un
- Sam Bordeaux
  
  How embarrassing. That’s just down the road from me, and I didn’t recognize it. Never saw the tiger before, either.
- Antinous / Moderator
  
  If you zoom in, the face looks like a wolf, sort of.
RedShirt77

I love that it blurs the faces of people in masks.
- http://boingboing.net/ The Life Of Bryan
  
  When I saw this link it reminded me that I’d been passed by one of their cars while riding my bike a few months ago. I checked, and sure enough there I am, waiting patiently at a red light. Not only is my face blurred, but so is the bike’s brand name on the frame.
- Quiche de Resistance
  
  They need an algorithm to blur DAT ASS.
http://twitter.com/kaihilpisch Kai Hilpisch

Haha, the forest picture is only amazing to people who don’t live in the Nordic Countries. Also I am surprised Google didn’t remove the prostitute image. It seems like something they would edit out.
http://echofox3.blogspot.com efergus3

Looks a lot like Old Detroit…
Shibi_SF

I do enjoy Jon Rafman’s compilations (fake tiger or not).
z7q2

Awhile back I wanted to submit for BoingBoing’s pleasure my Street View driving movie, but it was at the time when the submitterator was busticated, so I kinda forgot about it. Now seems as good a time as any to share it – here’s going west on I-80 from the eastern terminus in Teaneck, NJ to someplace in the middle of Pennsylvania where a white plastic bag got on the street view camera and spoiled the view, forcing me to drive retrograde until I gave up.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NNzVIUezd2Q

Accomplished by using CamStudio with a 1-second frame rate capture over Google Earth street view and putting a weight on the forward arrow key, for six evenings of tedium. Anyone else who wants to complete the journey is more than welcome.
Lotney

Police uniform and gate tags from the first one, from what I can tell, are from São Paulo, Brazil.
glaborous_immolate

I wonder if the whole corpus can be used to say thing statistically true about areas, populations, crime, wealth, poverty, etc.
Mike

To get to the original Google Street View links for these images, go here: http://www.streetviewfunny.com. Most of these images were first discovered there – e.g. Burning van – http://www.streetviewfunny.com/streetviewfunny/story/1218/