Google Street View has been launched in Alderley Edge today so you can now take a virtual tour of the village, with 360° horizontal and 290° vertical views.
Some, if not all, of the images were taken last year by a black Google Street View car, with a camera mounted on its roof. As reported on Twitter, the distinctive vehicle was seen going down London Road around mid day on Friday 3rd April.
Street View takes Google Maps to a new level, allowing you to visually explore and navigate a neighbourhood through panoramic street-level photographs.You can now zoom right in to see close-up views of people on the streets of Alderley Edge, as well as individual houses and gardens - faces and license plates are blurred.
Google’s controversial service was launched in March 2009 in the UK, initially covering 25 cities and has gradually expanded to include more cities, more streets within these cities and also some rural areas. The service now covers almost all of the UK’s roads.
Street View has raised concerns about privacy and some of those caught on camera have been far from happy, including one wife who has filed for divorce after spotting her husband’s Range Rover outside her friend’s home whilst he was supposedly away on business. Fortunately for one chap spotted sheepishly leaving a sex shop his image has since been removed.
According to Google; “Street View contains imagery that is no different from what you might see driving or walking down the street" but unless you are 2.5 metres high, like their cameras, then you would not be able to see into some of the gardens clearly visible on Street View.
The imagery is of a good quality, we’ve already spotted a friend walking down her garden path, which is not visible from the street due to a tall hedge.
Check out Alderley Edge on Street View above using the arrow keys top left, click top right of the image to make it full screen. Let us know what you think? Is it an invasion of privacy? Have you spotted any strange sights or people you know on Street View in Alderley Edge?
Please do share your thoughts via the comment box below.
