Google Street View: the sweet and the sad

Google have announced the extension of their street-level imaging service to cover more than 95 per cent of UK roads. Until now Google’s Street View service has been available in 25 UK cities, that's since last March. The increased coverage makes an additional 210,000 miles of detailed imaging public.

It's sweet to go and peer at places from your past and family history. The house where I first lived was clearly shown, there was just a peek view at the second while the nearby third was totally obscured by trees.

I was surprised that Google's camera went down the small lane on which sat the house where I was born, and sad to discover the house is no more, just a heap of bricks. It was in dilapidated condition last time I was there, at least five years ago, with windows boarded up.

If you're not familiar with street view, access it from Google maps by navigating to the area of interest, then drag the yellow person above the slider bar at the left, which leans inward when you grab it, to the area of interest. Click on a road that become highlighted in blue. You can pan and advance the image by clicking.