Geek Habitat

Reposted from my vox blog:

I went to Google Maps to refresh my memory on an intersection I travel regularly, since there is supposed to be a drop box for clothing and small appliance donations to a children’s home there (at least per their mailing I just received.) Once on the appropriate map, I realized it had a Street View available, which I had not used (or noticed) before for San Antonio streets.

I got sidetracked while in Street View, and “drove” my cursor down Prue Rd., toward Fredericksburg Rd. Anyone that travels this area of town knows that road’s been FUBAR’d for, what, almost a year now (maybe longer? My brother says it’s not slated for completion until Summer 2010!?) Anyway, I wanted to see if the Street View just died at the roadblock, or if they sent some intrepid Google contractor bicycling past the road barricades with a camera mounted on his/her helmet. No dice, the map ends at the barricades. {grin}

I then went back in Street View to scout the intersection for likely drop boxes or collection stations, but I have come up empty-handed. Guess I’ll have to go the low-tech route and pay more attention the next time I’m parked at one of the interminably long lights there.

One thing I noticed was the “coming” and “going” pictures for the same road segment in Street View don’t appear to necessarily be taken at the same time. Case in point: arriving at the Prue&Babock Valero gas station from Babcock in Street View shows an unleaded gas price of $2.99, whereas arriving at the station from the Fredericksburg-side of Prue results in a price of $2.95 at the same station, as well as entirely different traffic/vehicles.

That brought me back to Google to learn what technology they’re using to compile the Street View data. Guess I need to keep on the lookout for one of these in the future! (That thing should be mounted to a Prius or at least a TDI VW! … /rant)

And of course, any exploration of Street View invariably leads to virtual voyeurism. Hey, dude — breaking and entering? — Google’s watching! (See more here).