‘I can see your house from here!’

By Sharon Fisher, 2-13-08

Boise and the surrounding area have become part of the ‘in’ scene—the area from Boise to Happy Valley Road in Canyon County is now available on Google Maps StreetView, which gives you a street-level view of a city, including 360-degree views.

StreetView, which started out in cities such as San Francisco, has come under some criticism due to privacy concerns. In fact, websites have been set up devoted to “interesting" things that can be spotted on StreetView.  StreetView pictures are not live; they are taken from a car or truck with a mounted camera. However, occasionally people are caught in flagrante delicto. People can request that Google remove such pictures.

(Pictures of Ada County houses—including tax information and other financial details—have been available online for some time through the Ada County Assessor’s website.)

Other cities added to StreetViews at the same time reportedly include Juneau, Alaska; Salt Lake City, Utah; San Antonio, Texas; Raleigh/Durham/Cary, North Carolina; and Manchester, New Hampshire.

To see the Boise area, go to maps.google.com, enter a Treasure Valley location, then click the box labeled StreetView next to Map, Satellite, and Terrain on the map.

(Thanks to the Nampa/Canyon County blog The Unequivocal Notion for the tip. Ironically, Nampa is not yet included and the StreetView ends at Happy Valley Road in Canyon County.)