Too Much of a Good Thing? A Sci-Fi Video of Too Detailed Google Maps

Last week, I wrote about Google Maps Street View Coming to Cleveland, and showing the main Cleveland hospitals as if you there. However, there are well-known privacy implications of this convenience, for example, a patient with a newly-diagnosed cancer may not be happy that his daughter first found out about his condition by seeing him coming out of the Ireland Cancer Center... To be fair, Google offers the opportunity to blur a face if it is "too recognizable" in Google Maps or to remove the image completely.

The Sci-Fi video below highlights the danger of too detailed Google Maps.


Google Maps Street View is great and very detailed. May be too detailed... See the original video by Todd Berger and Jeff Grace. Link via Google Blogoscoped.

In a real-life example, the Google Maps camera inadvertently recorded a police arrest in Tampa, Florida:


A police patrol arrests a man in Tampa, Florida and the scene is caught on tape live by the Google Maps camera. Link via Digital Inspiration.

Related:
Super Zoom on Google Maps and Advanced Features of Google Earth
Google Maps Street View
Google Maps Street View Comes to Cleveland -- See Cleveland Clinic, UH, Metro, SVCH, etc.

Updated: 04/11/2008