GMaps Street View leaves New Yorkers with Much to Desire 05-29-2007
Google has just released, Street View, its latest feature to the Google Maps product. Essentially an enhanced version of Amazon A9’s now defunct block view. While impressive, I could not help but notice the lack of image quality of the panoramas. Although surprisingly, it seems this is a New York specific issue.
Shown below are two views of Apple’s stores in both San Francisco and New York City; of note is the difference in image quality between the two. San Francisco Street Views also have another additional level of zoom detail.
Figure 1. Google Maps Street View of SF Apple Store
Figure 2. Google Maps Street View of NYC Apple Store
I cannot envision what Google’s reasoning is for offering lower quality images of New York’s streets. My assumption is that identical equipment was used in shooting the panoramas for both cities. Security and privacy seem to be the only logical explanation (i.e., lower quality images mean in a city as populated as NYC you will reveal fewer recognizable faces).