The maps do not show live pictures, but it can be unnerving to "drive" past your home online, sometimes seeing people on the street (one employee at Alabama News Network likes to point to himself taking out the trash at home at the exact moment the Google self-driving camera vehicle was driving past).
Now a massive upgrade is in effect and the results make it a) more unnerving or b) more wonderful, depending on your perspective. The map fills the screen and makes it easier to switch to street view (the freakiest part, I suppose), and to find the names of nearby businesses and places of interest.
If you happen to be signed in to your Gmail account, the program will even search your emails for information about travel reservations you have made and display information about places you might want to eat or visit or...and yes, that does feel intrusive.
Here's a "drive" from the front of the Alabama News Network studio on Harrison Road to nearby Ann Street :
I love Google maps and use the program daily....but even I find it just a tiny bit intrusive.
We have always had the right to go drive past someone's house if we had their address. Google has just made it possible without leaving the couch.
[The Monday {and sometimes Tuesday} Morning Media Memo is a regular feature of TimLennox.com]
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