Anyone Can View Your Office, Your Home, Your Home Office:Google

Our friend, Bill Myers (www.bmyers.com) publishes a weekly newsletter (marketing techniques, product development....) that is just invaluable for any business. Along with this service, Bill sends out a weekly tip email that we've always found helpful.

This week's Myers' tip hit the nail on the head regarding the topic matter we had in mind: the scope of Goggle's down-to-the-street maps of practically any address.

A must-read for any professional who maintains a home based office as well - as the majority do. It is easy for anyone to simply look up the professional's name (for e.g. on www.argali.com) and obtain a very close up view of that person's home.

From Bill's weekly tips:

Google Maps has just updated their street view system which
allows anyone to get a ground level 360 degree photo tour of a
growing number of addresses in the US and Europe.

To get a street view, you simply enter an address in the
http://maps.google.com search box and click 'search maps'.

Then click on the street view icon, and you can see what the
address looks like from the street level. You can even use your
arrow keys to move up and down the street to get a better view.

This can be very handy if you are considering buying or renting a
home - as you can use street view to check out the neighborhood
and in some cases see the neighbors.

For example, you might not want to live in the neighborhood where
this street view photo was snapped -
http://www.bmyers.com/snip/106.htm

Street view can also be used to check out a business address to
see exactly what kind of business you are ordering from.

For example, the street view image of a much advertised New York
based camera discounter should give you pause. See the photo at
http://www.bmyers.com/snip/107.htm to know what I mean.

Google street view doesn't cover the entire world - yet. But
they cover a surprising number of cities (large and small) in
many countries throughout the world, and each day they add
hundreds of miles of more images.

It's probably a good idea to check to see if Google has a street
view of your home or business to make sure it doesn't invade your
privacy or put your business in a bad light.

To view Google street view, visit http://maps.google.com and
search for any street address. Then click the 'street view' link
if it is shown.


BNI Operatives: Street smart: Web savvy.

As Always, Stay Safe,

Lina

Labels: google. street views, invasion of privacy