Up Close and Personal with a Google Maps Street View Car
Posted on March 28, 2008
Filed Under Technology
I had another encounter with the Google Maps street view car. Unlike my last sighting of the Google Mobile, which was little more than a blur, this time I had a chance actually take a close look at (and of course some pictures) the hacked by Google, Chevy Cobalt.
This time, the Google Maps car just happened to be parked on the same street that my great uncle lives on (downtown Charleston, SC), and I actually spoke briefly with the driver, who said that he was actually working through a temp agency, and was covering the whole state of South Carolina. I asked if I could come by the next day and take some pics, and he was totally cool with it. Just said he’d be out driving from 8AM to 5PM, so I came back after 5PM and got these photos with my iPhone.
Here’s a close up view of what must be the camera. Looks like the official camera case is a sock. Maybe if I see the driver again, I’ll ask … “what’s under the sock?”.
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A closer view of the GPS antenna, a Topcon PG-A1, positioned at the back of the roof rack.
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And a close up view of the bottom of that GPS antenna.
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Here’s a view of the interior of the Google Maps Car, showing the monitor/ display unit in front of the the passenger seat. If you look closely, you can see that the display is actually being held up by a spare tire and a 2×4, with a notebook wedged in-between for more support. I wonder if this particular car is just broken, or if this is the standard setup in all the Google maps cars.
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Finally, here’s a picture I took through the rear window of the car, showing the Verizon Wireless USB720 EVDO Rev A USB Modem that the car uses for its connection to the Internet.
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A close-up view of the USB720.
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Finally, here are some pictures I found here showing the whole fleet of Google Maps Cars.
Comments
9 Responses to “Up Close and Personal with a Google Maps Street View Car”
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interessante articolo very good !!!!!!
Ciao Fabio
Its very nice, it is very interesting to see, Google Maps View Car.
Thanks for such a nice information
Thanks for sharing such a nice information.
Are the Google cars only covering USA?
We live in UK, and wanted to knw if there are any plans to cover wider areas, like ours.
With oil shortages going on all over the world, there must be a better use of this firms capital.
Without getting political, there is no ’shortage’ of gas. Only high prices.You can buy all you want for the price. Now, do you think a large corp. like Google has to worry about paying $4+ a gal for fuel? If you have beaucoup (that’s the right way to write “boo-koo”) dollars, you don’t worry about such things. The added revenue (indirectly) created by using these street maps more than pays for the fuel used to document the streets. I think it’s great. And it’s not like their using gas guzzlers to to the work.
Have a great day.
response to Mr. Rand McNally:
“Your write”. But I think it is “they’re” or “they are” rather than “their”.
response to Matt Hardy
I guess you’re a spelling bee champ huh? First grade I take it?
It should be “You’re right,” as in you are right. Write is the spelling used for writing. Funny how your mistake is so strikingly similar to the person you attempted to correct.
thats gay