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25 Comments October 8, 2009 at 10:00 am

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Nowhere to Hide from Google Street View

Yesterday’s launch of Google Street View created a new wave of digital tourism, with most of us starting with our home address and then scouring the mostly anonymous bodies nearby for flickers of recognition. As is par for the course with the service, the camera sometimes captures some unusual, quirky, and mysterious events. Here are some of our local favourites (so far).

Comments

http://undefined Chester Pape

I of course checked out my street yesterday, amazed at how often the FR misidentifies the REAR wheel covers as a face to be blurred.
rek

What the hell is that future-mobile in front of the Body Shop?
http://valdodge.com/ Val Dodge

Looks like a (Canadian-made) Campagna T-Rex.
http://undefined Ryan Coleman

Heh – love that on the photo of Fauxreel’s “Unaddressed” series (second row, first on left) the face detection system automatically blurred out the stencil’s face…
http://undefined W. K. Lis

But, where’s Waldo?
http://undefined Robsonian

Check out the labour-unrest-frozen-in-time at the foot of the Don Roadway:
http://maps.google.ca/maps?ie=UTF8&hq=&hnear=Yonge+St+&ll=43.65168,-79.347403&spn=0,359.980946&z=16&layer=c&cbll=43.651767,-79.347492&panoid=2OqnysyjVDnsnbpIwjBNJQ&cbp=12,21.89,,0,5.61
http://undefined Dipwick

The Torontoist slideshow setup kinda sucks.
http://undefined Lu Galasso

Anyone know how often this thing’s updated?
http://undefined Robsonian

Oooh, or: http://maps.google.ca/maps?f=q&source=s_q&hl=en&geocode=&q=wellington+and+front,+toronto&sll=43.644884,-79.336146&sspn=0.012065,0.02723&ie=UTF8&hq=&hnear=Front+St+E+&ll=43.654894,-79.38004&spn=0,359.97277&t=h&z=16&layer=c&cbll=43.645972,-79.382398&panoid=1cF94C5XbS3AmZ-lDgXbTA&cbp=13,124.47,,0,-53.1
my favourite view of the Royal York Hotel (from the Tim Horton’s across the laneway)
http://undefined Robsonian

yeah, it does.
http://undefined triplexpac

I thought this was funny
http://maps.google.ca/maps?f=q&source=s_q&layer=c&cbll=43.658824,-79.349986&panoid=urhtf4HvRGzDkNYsg5N5Rg&cbp=12,348.35,,2,5.65&ie=UTF8&ll=43.658868,-79.349871&spn=0,359.939146&z=14
http://www.torontoist.com David Topping

My favourite finds (that aren’t above):
A billboard gets its face obscured here.
No red-light running Google car detected at Yonge and Adelaide here
A few weird transitions, because of different shots of similar areas being taken in different times:
Luminato takes over, and vanishes from, Dundas Square. (And an ad for The Hangover is replaced by one for Terminator: Salvation)
A huge Ferris wheel at Jane and Finch that, as you zoom closer, disappears. (Sorry, kids at the corner.)
NOW’s (and formerly Torontoist’s) Josh Errett gets caught fumbling with his camera here.
Two of my favourite pun stores, Hi Fi Fo Fum and The Loan Arranger, in their natural habitats.
And, in what’s apparently a trend, a person on a motorized scooter, on the road, going the opposite direction of traffic, with a car approaching, here.
http://www.torontoist.com David Topping

Not as frequently as some would like to think.
http://undefined JustCari

Yeah, that made me laugh. Really? You wanted to see your mom waving??
http://undefined nealj

The Ontario Place pic also identifies a mislabelled street name on Google Maps — note the street sign further down the road http://maps.google.com/?ie=UTF8&layer=c&cbll=43.65375,-79.368037&panoid=tnBHSy9CCqZCNMrwSvvdFw&cbp=12,172.92,,0,2.65&ll=43.65387,-79.368067&spn=0,359.947686&z=15
http://undefined Alex Sirota

An of course Sushi Bong — how we love you
http://rantspectacle.blogspot.com/ mccool

Strange St., indeed. It looks like some sort of worm-hole!
http://maps.google.ca/maps?f=q&source=s_q&layer=c&cbll=43.658824,-79.349986&panoid=urhtf4HvRGzDkNYsg5N5Rg&cbp=12,348.35,,2,5.65&ie=UTF8&ll=43.658868,-79.349871&spn=0,359.939146&z=14
http://undefined Alabama Todd

That’s Neil Young’s tour bus!
http://undefined EricSmith

Too bad they missed the crazy way this storefront at Gerrard and Logan used to be painted and signed: “Drunk Drivers are Lousy L♡vers,” among other things. Must’ve been there for a while, because one of the window signs read, “Welcome to Metro.”
Alas, now, it’s just as abandoned, but beige. The defunct Virtualcity.ca caught it in its former state.
A little farther along the street, the problematically-named Coolies Bar and Restaurant.
http://www.bitpicture.com Marc Lostracco

It’s been closed since (I think) January, but it’s under renovation right now, and apparently it’s about to open as one of those play places that you take your kids for birthday parties.
rek

You reminded me of the heated debate sparked by an article using that image.
http://undefined SuperSteve

Twin CN Towers check out 52 Manitoba Dr, Toronto, Toronto Division, Ontario ( http://www.google.ca/maphp?hl=en&q=52+Manitoba+Dr,+Toronto,+Toronto+Division,+Ontario&ie=UTF8&cd=1&geocode=FbLYmQIdTUJE-w&split=0&sll=49.891235,-97.15369&sspn=16.71875,56.536561&layer=c&cbll=43.636899,-79.41262&panoid=uPVq3Nw_ZP7N3kW3yoemLA&cbp=12,73.64,,1,-3.11&hq=&hnear=52+Manitoba+Dr,+Toronto,+Toronto+Division,+Ontario&t=h&z=17&iwloc=A )
http://undefined bryce

wow. what a caption on the van fire.
http://undefined sbitaxi
A few of my favourites:
http://undefined gstreetwalker

If you want captured streetview of Toronto from funny people to famous places. You may try to visit this site:
http://gstreetwalker.blogspot.com
Click the label of your interest
Example: Yonge, Spadina, Queen , Funny, People etc.

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Nowhere to Hide from Google Street View

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