Also there: a member of the judging panel that gave them the Rheineck Rock Award in the 1990s

Incorrect. They won the award in 1987 and Stunt Clown came out in '88. Either way, a superb band. Whatever happened to original backing singer Rupert E Taylor, by the way ?

Incorrect. They won the award in 1987 and Stunt Clown came out in '88.

Duh. Of course. I'm not sure what I was thinking when I typed that.

Either way, a superb band. Whatever happened to original backing singer Rupert E Taylor, by the way ?

He was invited --...

I'm a little disappointed, they don't go past my place, they veer off down Glasgow Street towards the uni. Poo.

They wimped out on my friends' steep-assed street in Wellington too.

When did Google take these images, how does that work?

I recall the news that they were starting on it, but I'm damned if I can recall when. Basically, they have to drive down every street in a camera-mounted vehicle.

A Christchurch blogger photographed the Google car in January...

Basically, they have to drive down every street in a camera-mounted vehicle.

My daughter and I should be in it – we were at the playground in Chilka street when they came through, I'll have to check it out.

My daughter and I should be in it – we were at the playground in Chilka street when they came through, I'll have to check it out.

Chilka St is definitely there. Where's the playground?

I'm a little disappointed, they don't go past my place, they veer off down Glasgow Street towards the uni. Poo.

They wimped out on my friends' steep-assed street in Wellington too.

Ditto with my first house, they needed one of those cameras mounted on a skateboard for the more alpine...

with John Key's bloody IQ on it!! What's it doing there? Is...

Chilka Street did not take well to photography.

That would be the small nuclear device that detonated there earlier this year.

Lionel Richie's 'All Night Long'

Weirdly, I too listened to that song ironically on Saturday night! (Erm. Well, perhaps it wasn't being *played* ironically, but I certainly heard it that way.)

Seriously though looks like the Dunedin pics were taken about 11 months ago – possibly between Xmas and New Year

"So what is the biggest story of the year? Ross and Brand in Sachsgate? The collapse of the financial system? The devastation in Mumbai? Or the US election perhaps...

They weren't that pussy. They made it up Baldwin St,

Awright, how'd you get a link that takes us straight there? I have tired of trying.

Awright, how'd you get a link that takes us straight there? I have tired of trying.

Just search for the address and click the Street View option. If it doesn't display the option, there's no view.

Awright, how'd you get a link that takes us straight there? I have tired of trying.

The linky thing is at the top right. Beware, however, if you have your home address set as your default location, as it will end up in your link!!

Awright, how'd you get a link that takes us straight there? I have tired of trying.

Just search for the address and click the Street View option. If it doesn't display the option, there's no view.

Thanks – what I meant though, was how do I get a link that...

Taken I would say early last summer. The hedge...

Seriously though looks like the Dunedin pics were taken about 11 months ago – possibly between Xmas and New Year

My street was done on a Monday as I can see the empty recycle bins. Probably the 24th December as my ex had borrowed my BBQ for Xmas and I...

Chilka Street did not take well to photography.

That would be the small nuclear device that detonated there earlier this year.

No, not that, it is a photo of Giovanni. Just in case anybody doesn't know, Giovanni and his offspring transmit an electrostatic (ήλεκτρον) verticals. This is due to Giovanni's,...

I saw the GoogleVan driving along Pt Chevalier Rd last Friday, and Norfolk St Ponsonby yesterday afternoon – no idea if they were taking images at that particular moment, or in transit from somewhere else....

I've searched my own address,...

The Mount Vic tunnel appears to be a wormhole into another dimension.

That's fantastic. I have the Doctor Who theme playing in my head now.

Russell, I'm pretty sure I can read your recycling...

Chilka St is definitely there. Where's the playground?

Corner of Jaypore, but sigh... we're not there! Nor are the drunks who threw a can at the van. The photos of our street and of Berhampore school are more recent than the time when I saw that van, anyhow, I can...

Kathryn Ryan had the impression that it gives you a live video feed.

Nope – just a bunch of static images taken a few months ago.

I don't think google and/or Big Bro have enough cameras to have a video feed of everywhere, all the time.

And it was uphill all the way home.

"GET OUT OF THE WAY BLURRED NUMBER PLATE CARS – I HAVE NO CONTROL OVER THIS THING!"

I did walk a mile to school when I was five years old.

The place I mentioned was subdivided is just around the corner from your school.

I'm shedding a tear over a couple of teardowns in other neighbourhoods though, and backyard vege gardens crushed forever under another brick-and-tile. Sigh.

I was just thinking – won't it be incredible to look back at these photos in, say, 30 years time? It'll be like time travel!

I've said it before, Streetview leaves me fairly cold, but a Streetview in time would be fantastic.

And it was uphill all the way home.

Luxury.

18 km on my bike. Each way.

Sometimes I took the long route.

And we had cardboard box. Etc.

Rob Hosking, feel free to clear your throat.

Wow, I see from that link you provided Jolisa, that you can link directions to street view and "follow the blue line" through the street view. That's pretty neato...

So I can force my kid to walk with me, in more or less real time, the whole way to school!...

I'm fairly certain the repeal of Section 59 made that illegal...

I'll gladly function as the test case that boring your children to death is still within the letter of the law. We're testing it on a daily basis over here.

Holy crap, David, it used to take you 4 hours to walk to school?

And because I was barefoot, I stood in cowpats to warm my feet on the way.

10-speed bike. Which made me a freak, because no-one had them then. 20 minutes downhill, 45 up.

Must be an interesting job driving those cars...

or are you both (ahem) bullshitting me??

Yes; and no. Not on the way to school. We had shoes.

But on a cold winter morning, with time on your hands, and nothing on your feet....

Sometimes I took the long route.

It sometimes amazes me how many people I meet who came from Fielding. A whole flat load of tenants for instance, when we briefly owned a rental property (until we could sell it).

So I can force my kid to walk with me, in...

And because I was barefoot, I stood in cowpats to warm my feet on the way.

I wonder if Frank Sargeson might have spotted you?

So what sort of mash-ups can we expect now – oldfriends.co.nz meets Streetview? I must say, it feels a little dodgy, stalking my old selves through several cities...

"oh look, there's the dairy where I used to buy a chocolate fish for 5c," etc etc.

That'd be that dairy that some lady was on her way to one day & was never seen again! Drug war suspected.

I wonder if Frank Sargeson might have spotted you?

AHA! So you put your feet in the boots and THEN put them in the cowpat. Now that does make sense.

BTW, Andrew – hello, old sort-of-neighbour!

Probably at different times/decades completely. Although if you'd gone to Rata Street school & not Naenae,. you'd almost certainly know my mum.

AHA! So you put your feet in the boots and THEN put them in the cowpat. Now that does make sense.

Er... did I mung the link?

Cow Pats

The hardships of milking are depicted clearly by Frank Sargeson in his 1964 story Cow Pats.

"We had to get up...

Although if you'd gone to Rata Street school & not Naenae,. you'd almost certainly know my mum.

... cos she was a teacher? (Just checking how grievously I've been insulted here).

(google maps streetview: making boring old farts more boring since 2008)

Oh awesome, this has inspired me to walk down Ebbw Street, Risca, South Wales for the first time in years.

It doesn't say they took their boots off then stood in the pat.

(I suppose that's how you fended off all the girls...)

Yes, fending them off was a big problem, me being so un-inclined to freakishness and all.

you must have been helluva fit as a kid

Got my licence, started smoking. The rest you know.

Luxury.

18 km on my bike. Each way.

Gotta love the directions on the side:

Walking directions to Feilding High School
18.1 km – about 3 hours 32 mins
Via Kimbolton Rd, Makino Rd – remove all

Kimbolton Rd

1. Head southwest on Kimbolton Rd toward Barrow Rd
14.6 km...

Irony. We were doin' it right.

Though it is a delight feeling that queasy, and not having to induce alcohol poisoning to do it. :)

Oh awesome, this has inspired me to walk down Ebbw Street, Risca, South Wales for the first time in years.

Or not... we're ahead of parts of the UK anyway.

Luxury.
18 km on my bike. Each way.
Sometimes I took the long route.
And we had cardboard box. Etc.
Rob Hosking, feel free to clear your throat.

Let me guess...it was either that or your old man had to sell you for medical expuriments. On account of every sperm...

but then I suppose a half mile cul de sac with half a dozen houses on it way out in the country isn't all that photogenic.

Might be getting to it – this rural cul de sac made it.

They drove into Rocklands Station (which is a good distance onto the Old Dunstan Road), [[http://maps.google.com/?ie=UTF8&ll=-45.676108,169.995227&spn=0.044019,0.185566&t=h&z=13&layer=c&cbll=-45.674539,169.987879&panoid=w0o6Smxtvrx5hUFxkUVpOw&cbp=12,295.82580221800634,,0,8.526997401148295|but gave up at the...

On the other hand you can follow almost to the start of the Routeburn Track (we have to get someone to carry google cameras over...

o we all stuck our feet into cow pats, and after walking over the frost it was bosker and warm sure enough

Fooking looxury!

When I was lad we used 't have 't walk home across 't pennines in bare feet. In't snow. After 72 hour shift down't pit.

and a car is dispatched to photograph your chosen address in realtime.

Or someone else's... Mouah

Ha

Ha.

and a car is dispatched to photograph your chosen address in realtime.

Or someone else's... Mouah

Ha

Here's the go – you order the Google Drive by to a mate's house when you know they're not there, then you race down & decorate the garden with really garish garden gnomes & the...

Or you could organise a parade, if you were feeling kinder.

Or you could organise a parade, if you were feeling kinder.

Or a KKK rally & (faux) lynching!

OK, I'm probly getting carried away with this.

Oh and they turned around before they got to Milford sound you can see why though

Possibly not summer.

I'm excited that you can see my bed in the photo of my house.

And what's that round back? Could it be ... a Tiki shack?!

After a miserable week, antibiotics

I've had so much fun with google that I completely forgot my immediate reaction to your post, Russell.

Does this mean that you are a lot sicker than you intimated last week? Or is your doctor not up to speed on how to treat [[http://www.who.int/mediacentre/factsheets/fs211/en/|...

http://maps.google.co.nz/?ie=UTF8&ll=-37.823633,174.801385&spn=0,359.995172&z=18&layer=c&cbll=-37.82363,174.801366&panoid=cpZGPyBrf_c9qNzIl6y2wA&cbp=12,284.8449047815135,,0,8.731104017939053

Here's an 'interesting' image

Hiro Protagonist, wondering which element you were picking up as 'interesting'. In Edendale, Southland; the intersection nearby makes access there quite complicated – state highway goes on a large bend there, trucks going all directions, train tracks, the cheese factory across the road etc.

Luxury.
18 km on my bike. Each way.
Sometimes I took the long route.

Cool. Both ways you went past my Aunt & Uncle's farm, but the long way was past the front gate.

Respec ... those roads are thin in places and I know that I go like a bat...

Interesting that the review you linked to mentions a drunk bald guy yelling at the top of his voice.....there's one person I know that fits that...

On the subject of time travel, I am quite pleased that street view managed to capture these industrial heritage buildings before they were knocked down by...

I couldn't find my old apartment in downtown Osaka (I couldn't get down the street), but I did rediscover this gem from the old neighbourhood:

Hotel Little Chapel Christmas (for lovers)

Just in case: cow pats fresh from a cow are about 2 degrees warmer that your blood temp. But very quickly they loose heat and 20 minutes later you loose on the deal, unless you want the job of warming cow-pats with your feet?

I'm not 100% up on the...

(Originally found by Peter at the Wellingtonista)

Not even a year old and so much...

Note to any Googleistas in these parts – do check local Councils for timing and avoid immortalising streetworks, if that's possible. Some neighbourhood changes just aint attractive.

It's very time travelly already, the maps.

Yes, but if they don't put a time stamp on those photos and keep archiving them when they are replaced, it won't be any sort of historical record but rather something meaningful only to those who can place the latest image in time...

Note to any Googleistas in these parts – do check local Councils for timing and avoid immortalising streetworks, if that's possible. Some neighbourhood changes just aint attractive.

One strange side-effect of Street View is how rough so many neighbourhoods end up looking – even ones without roadworks.

I'm guessing it's...

Wonder if, on that basis, if real estate agents will add google streetview links to their own photos.

Some pertinent discussion at Techsploder:
http://www.geekzone.co.nz/juha/6000

Upthread, I wondered if anyone was slightly nervous about this development, is there really no one else who finds it slightly odd that their backyard is now public?

My backyard isn't public. What's public is the view from the street, which was always public. Now, okay, the house we just...

In some shots you can look straight down....it's quite a strange car they were using to take the shots.

You can see tha car's shadow in some shots (go to carterton, nz for instance & do a 360.)

is there really no one else who finds it slightly odd that their...

is there really no one else who finds it slightly odd that their backyard is now public?

And it's most people's front yards, the bit they make nice for street appeal, so that passers by ooh & aah at their good taste.

SO no. Not really.

My backyard isn't public. What's public is the view from the street, which was always public.

And not exactly revealing. Having mostly grown up in Christchurch, I'm always amazed by the sheer volume of foliage that has appeared in the suburbs since I were a lad.

We looked at Fiona's...

I'm always amazed by the sheer volume of foliage that has appeared in the suburbs since I were a lad.

It's the revelation (albeit somewhat glacial) that it's quite tricky to tag a hedge.

who thought her house appearing on the web was a gross invasion of her privacy.

But didn't mind it being on national news at primetime?!! (I didn't see the item)

As all the photos are taken from public roads then the front-yards are no more public now than they ever...

But didn't mind it being on national news at primetime?!!

That's what flashed into my mind on seeing her. I guess she was arguing the principle :)

It's the revelation (albeit somewhat glacial) that it's quite tricky to tag a hedge.

Not to give enoyers of a good "wheeze" ideas or anything, but if the hedge is compact enough, may I suggest a knapsack of roundup set to a fine jet spray.

I understand it's public streets/space too, I just can't shake the feeling...

Well there was that lady on the news last night, named & filmed out the front of her place, who thought her house appearing on the web was a gross invasion of her privacy.

LOL.
Irony – you're unwittingly doing it right...

I think it was mostly NZ Post is a state-ish agency that's there to deliver bloody mail, whereas google's job is to take over the...

I really can't see myself giving much...

It is one thing have the information (what your house looks like) available if someone goes and looks and another to have it all in a database.

Of course, it's only a matter of time before one becomes the other. Someone is working out a way to mine saleable data...

Upthread, I wondered if anyone was slightly nervous about this development, is there really no one else who finds it slightly odd that their backyard is now public?

If anyone is that obsessed, you can see me scratching my arse in front of the television by driving very slowly on...

Aidan, does that mean the farm runs from Makino Road through to Kimbolton Road? Might I know them?

Yes and maybe.

I'll email their name ...

The long way was a great ride on a sunny morning, and the winding roads were a lot more enjoyable than one long straight...

I just can't shake the feeling that I'll soon need to think about what I put on to bring in my washing.

I've always said that I'll close the door on tolerance when I switch on & see myself being filmed taking a dump on some reality TV show.

So it...

Hiro Protagonist, wondering which element you were picking up as 'interesting'. In Edendale, Southland;

Does that image show OK for you? When I look at it, there's a big chunk of road appears covering up most of the storefront. Weird.

Of course, it's only a matter of time before one becomes the other. Someone is working out a way to mine saleable data from this system right now – I'd put money on it.

Dear Householder,

I was recently in your area and noticed that your house needed repainting/roof re-tiling/fence...

Well, I'd be a lot more nervous with real-time updating – that would present more obvious issues of privacy and security, since people can see what's happening at your place now rather than what happened at a particular random point in the past.

I agree live feeds change the nature...

I was recently in your area and noticed that your house needed repainting/roof re-tiling/fence re-painting.

If he can tell that from the quality of the photos I've been seeing, good luck to him.

Good points, but should we really be less concerned about the potential intrusion into our private lives simply 'cause it's a groovy corporation?

I think we've established that, if it's your front door/fence/visible from the street, it's not considered private anyway. The Hosking decision (Mike, not Rob) was pretty unambiguous...

I think we've established that, if it's your front door/fence/visible from the street, it's not considered private anyway.

Mark, I don't mean to harp on, but the fact that the information itself is not private doesn't entirely resolve matters for me. As I said earlier, what if it was a...

Technology is the opiate of the masses?

Oh my, yes.

Timmy is very licky

Dinah, I like yr style.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=biqn6huNXZ8&feature=related

I don't recall the detail of this decision, but there's an increasing number of constraints on the use of cameras, including on beaches in Sydney and "public pools" (which of course often aren't strictly public).

From Austlii – Hosking vs Runting 2004:

Michael Hosking is a well known presenter on...

Anderson J makes the point even more strongly:

[267] ... Freedom of expression is the first and last trench in the protection of liberty. All of the rights affirmed by NZBORA are protected by that particular right. Just as truth is the first...

I am reminded of Michael Moore's "The Awful Truth" who put a web cam across the road of the apartment of Linda Tripp and posted the live feed on the internet.

I live directly across a road from an East Eauropean embassy, I'm told that they have CCTV surveillance of...

we figured any burglary will be quite quick to resolve.

Unless the burglars work for the embassy.

Unless the burglars work for the embassy.

Now you;'re talking my brand of paranoia. Did I mention they used to be dirty commies?

Did I mention they used to be dirty commies?

Precisely: what's yours is theirs.

Precisely: what's yours is theirs.

Right, I'll het a webcam mounted this weekend & we'll see what the dirty pinkos get up to on weekdays when I'm not there.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WihRqeJM-9A

Anyway, I told her she was wrong and there were no security concerns about taking photographs in a public place and she should call the Police in if she thought otherwise

And no security concerns either about taking photos the lobby of a large office building in downtown Auckland either...

I think a lot of these creeps just try it on.

That they do. Everyone has a feeling that they know what "privacy" is, but bugger all actually have read the Act – they just work from their gut, and I suspect many of them have the equivalent of chronic...

But some old security guard refused to let me, saying that it was not legal to take photographs of the hospital.

Really? I have some shots of me leaving hospital with my first born (that'd be the old Chch Women's seven years ago). I look like I've been released from...

...it was not legal to take photographs of the hospital.

In some old buildings etc in Europe they'll tell you you can't take photos because of copyright law.

I understand this to mean "beacause we don't want you to".

In some old buildings etc in Europe they'll tell you you can't take photos because of copyright law.

And in other places, because of the potential damage done by the flash.
One of my pet peeves is the number of people who seem incapable of turning off the flash on...

(John Radford, the creator of the Tip sculptures in Western park was trying to sue Hallensteins for using images of...

We were at the night zoo in Singapore...

If you don't want your creations photographed and those photos used, don't allow them in a public place in NZ.

He's got a bad lawyer if he loses that one or doesn't get a deal. Placing something in public doesn't relinquish copyrights, though it certainly opens them up to being...

And don't even get me started on flashes at big events. I guess it can sometimes look really cool looking back at the crowd and seeing all the flash flickering, but given the effective range of a flash is under 10m, epic fail.

Yes, I often wonder what sort of...

I guess part of the point is that the flash doesn't harm the shot of something that it fails to illuminate, but it might illuminate close things a whole lot better...so why not?

Problem being that any camera with a light meter sort of takes the average of the pretty...

I guess part of the point is that the flash doesn't harm the shot of something that it fails to illuminate, but it might illuminate close things a whole lot better...so why not?

It could wash out the foreground of a long shot.