This is probably the creepiest thing I have ever seen on Streetview. The video below shows the Streetview images of Garrido’s house, the man who kidnapped and kept a girl in captivity for 18 years. The scary thing is that the kidnapper actually follows the Goocar around in his van!

So so weird!

Found via Best Viral.

It might be because Streetview needs a little positive advocacy these days, but the Google Maps team released a note on their blog about a new feature that leverages Streeview to display the image of a business on a map:

We use the position of the business on the map to approximately display it as a 3D marker in Street View. We are continuously working on improving the quality of the underlying map, and this will result in more and more businesses being positioned with high accuracy in Street View over time.

In other words, it’s not very precise. But it sounds pretty fun! Just have a look at the quick demo below to see how it works:

This looks pretty good, and it could be really useful on my cell phone. Unfortunately, I tried it on my Android and the same feature wasn’t there. Too bad, I could use this business-spotter when I find myself in unknown neighborhoods.

It is interesting to be a spectator of how Google pioneers augmented reality solutions for businesses. As mentioned above, the technology is somewhat clunky for the time being, but it clearly exemplifies Google Maps’ goal to own the virtual reality space, and sell it back to local businesses. I wonder if a business with no marketing budget for Google Maps will end up dying, given that our phones will become the best way for us to know where to go.

The Google Street View Cars (GooCars) have become an entertainment topic in the mapping space. Since those little cars are driving around the world taking snapshots of every block corners on the globe, sometimes, things don’t roll the way they are supposed to. Here is a compilation of icky Google Street View Cars situations:

1. Google Attempts Vehicular Assassination: As seen on GoogleSightseeing Blog, this GooCar almost ran over a rollerblading passer-by.

2. The United States Park Police vs. the Google Maps Car San Francisco’s Presidio: SF Citizen published the picture of a GooCar getting pulled over by a Park Rangers in San Francisco, CA.

3. Google Street View Car Drives Into Microsoft Campus, Gets Laughed At By Windows Live Maps: Gizmodo reports this funny anecdote of the GooCar driving around the Microsoft headquarters and taking snapshots of the LiveMaps building.

4. Google Street View Captures Car Accident: Obviously, by traveling so much, GooCars capture even the least expected pictures. Here’s a wrecked car abandoned on the sidewalk. If anybody knows the owner…

5. Multi-Vehicle Car Accident Captured on Google Street View: Yet another accident.

6. Google’s Street View captures the moment a drunken Aussie keeled over outside his home: If you’re a drunk, beware of the GooCar. You wouldn’t want your difficult mornings to appear on Google Street View forever, now would you?

7. Girl Flashes Chest at Street View Car: Ferrari better be watching out. Nowadays, if you want to pick up hot girls with a car, you’re better off with a GooCar. Apparently, it makes the ladies horny.

8. Italians mistake Google Street View car for prowling Gestapo: Valleywag reports this funny story of a GooCar that made all passers-by run away as they thought the car was a Gestapo-type of engine from their newly-elected mayor.

9. Google Street View: Private moments captured: This article collects a few pics already mentioned above, but the first pic is a kid falling down his bike. Poor kiddo!

10. Mariage proposal 2.0: I’ve saved the most creative use of the GooCar for the end. I don’t know if this marriage will last, but the proposition is here to stay!

11. Video extra - the independent online video creation community put together a funny video clip about Street View:

If you like those kinds of GooCar unusual stories, make sure to check out the Google Street View Gallery, a Digg-like site for GooCars.

xavierv