Google hits the streets

5/31/07 update below

Google Maps has launched a new Street View feature that allows you to "walk through and look around" as if you were standing at a given street location.

Real estate agencies used to charge a lot of money for stuff like this. I just want to know when Google is planning to start paying my mortgage.

UPDATE: My friend Ruth is concerned about the incidental immodesty (in particular concerning expectations of female modesty) that may result from people having their photograph taken incognito as data is gathered for this effort. My response:

Back home, middle-aged mothers sitting on their porch, legs up on the veranda, fanning themselves with a dog-eared (day-old) copy of "TeVe Guia" is considered not just not inmodest but downright colorful in a folklorish sort of way.

Of course the one-way-mirrored black van with the satellite transmitter on the roof and the multi-colored "You've been GOOGLED!!!!" text on the side would be a relatively new development in the neighborhoods of mi viejo San Juan.