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Google Street View Photo Snapper Car Spotted in Toronto

Posted by Jerrold Litwinenko / April 4, 2009

32 Comments

google street view torontoIt would appear that Google is in town, image snapping and mapping our streets in preparation for introducing their "Street View" functionality to Toronto at some point in the future. Yup. I might even be in one of the shots.

On Thursday, I was sitting on the patio at Black Bull and I saw the Google car go by. Without a camera on me, I wasn't able to snap a photo, but blogTO Flickr pooler JL1967 was able to snap the above photo of Google's high-tech street view grabber cruising on the Gardiner on April 2nd.

Toronto is amongst 11 Canadian cities that Google is planning to film and add to their list of Street View enabled cities. Smile for the camera.

Discussion

32 Comments

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bunnyhero / April 4, 2009 at 04:53 pm
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it might be fun to follow the google car around in a clown costume or something equally ridiculous and try to get into as many shots as possible.
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be. • TheLegendsLeague • / April 4, 2009 at 04:54 pm
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I'm gonna be sick.
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Buffalopundit / April 4, 2009 at 04:56 pm
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If someone had taken a picture of you taking a picture of the Google StreetView camera, I think a black hole would have opened up right there on the Gardiner.
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Justin / April 4, 2009 at 05:09 pm
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I hope a few ladies leave their blinds open.
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Eglinton replying to a comment from Buffalopundit / April 4, 2009 at 05:45 pm
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haha, whoaa so meta! :)
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what does meta mean / April 4, 2009 at 05:47 pm
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The car looks a little dinky to be driving with a rig like that on the roof, especially if you're mapping the entire world, jeebus...
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That Guy / April 4, 2009 at 06:00 pm
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That meerkat in the telus ad is looking right into the lens !
Meerkats are gonna take over the world.

Maybe they are just cute.
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Richard S / April 4, 2009 at 09:54 pm
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FINALLY! :)

I wonder what wacky stuff we can find on there when its up.
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Kenny / April 4, 2009 at 11:05 pm
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I guess no angry Torontonian mob of villagers chased it away when it drove by.
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Matthew Braga / April 4, 2009 at 11:23 pm
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Heh, and I thought they'd be using the unmarked vans like some places in the US. That's quite funny, actually.
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Sean / April 5, 2009 at 02:03 am
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Anybody else notice this car has Ontario plates???
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Roger replying to a comment from Sean / April 5, 2009 at 03:56 am
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Yeah, and it's obviously one of those cheapo Chrysler rental cars. You'd think Google has a budget something better.
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imsochill / April 5, 2009 at 04:19 am
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one word: FINALLY!?!?!?!??!??!?
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Justin replying to a comment from Roger / April 5, 2009 at 11:12 am
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Although yes it is a small relatively inexpensive car, you can clearly see a Chevy symbol on the trunk.
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Gaflar replying to a comment from Buffalopundit / April 5, 2009 at 11:53 am
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and what if the google car caught a picture of the person taking a picture of the person taking this picture? once the street view is up n runnin in T.O. then fly down to the gardiner and see if you can c the person taking a picture in the car behind
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AGC / April 5, 2009 at 12:04 pm
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I think they took a while because Canadians where having privacy issues with google street view, they have to blur faces and plates...that's what read a while ago.
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Emily / April 5, 2009 at 02:55 pm
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I saw it on Queen St. on Thursday when I was going with two of my friends to get a piercing. It might have captured some of my last moments of brown hair, since i dyed it blonde later that night.
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Esquire / April 5, 2009 at 05:17 pm
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The top half of the rig reminds me of Johnny 5 from Short Circuit. The sequal was filmed mostly in the Eaton's Centre!!
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Jared Connell / April 5, 2009 at 07:20 pm
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Did it have any google markings on it? Or did you just know because of the huge cameras on it?
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Sean / April 5, 2009 at 09:07 pm
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Follow these guys on a sunny day. Bring a mirror and reflect the sun to the camera!

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canuck1975 / April 6, 2009 at 09:42 am
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I saw it at Yonge/Eg on Thursday while eating @ Chef of India.
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Adam / April 6, 2009 at 12:37 pm
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A Chevy, Google? Really? These must be hard times :)
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Sean / April 7, 2009 at 12:51 am
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What a pity these cameras cannot be used to catch burglars or muggers, you know the sort of crimes that REALLY effect people and their lives. But then there is no money to be made out of that is there?
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Chris / April 26, 2009 at 12:19 pm
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i think i just saw this car a couple of days ago around Derry and Mavis in Mississauga. I'm not sure if it was also a Chevy but it was definitely a Street View car.
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AmyLMC / April 29, 2009 at 06:41 am
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I had no idea that the Google car was in the area until I saw it with my own 2 eyes! It was in Stouffville, Ontario on Sunday April 26th (The far East end)). It got a shot of my husband and neighbour chatting while working on the front garden...I saw it on the next street down as I was heading out for some errands. It was a dark blue or black Chev. Cobalt withe "Google" name on the side (in the same colours) and the this HUGE "antenna"/"camera" thing on the roof.
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Muhammad / May 6, 2009 at 08:34 pm
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I saw a car on my road that had a camera like that.
When will we be able to see those pics on google.
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AmyLMC replying to a comment from Muhammad / May 8, 2009 at 12:18 am
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As far as I understand it, as far as Canada goes it is going to be awhile. There are "Privacy" Issues that are being dealt with in the Courts. So....until those Laws are resolved as they pertain to Google, we won't be able to view any Canadian City on Google Street View. Apparently Google is just getting all of the "leg-work" done so when all is said and done Google can launch it asap.
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Phil / May 22, 2009 at 09:18 am
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I drove behind the Google street view snapper this morning from Erin Mills to Hurontario. Same make and model as the car depicted in the photo, although this time the car was sandy biege.
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Pete / June 10, 2009 at 03:00 pm
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Spotted this afternoon heading south on Bay, at College
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Jq / June 25, 2009 at 03:28 am
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I was coming home from the Davisville Tennis courts on Mt. Plesant heading north about to cross Soudan when the sandy beige car turned right past me. Filming inches away from my face as it turned the corner. The passenger was holding the camera. It wasn't mounted on top. Maybe it wasn't Google?
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RB / August 26, 2009 at 10:26 am
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Google car spotted in Georgetown, ON at the corner of Hwy #7 and Hyland.
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Brandon / January 4, 2010 at 03:54 pm
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Wonderful posting , You've hit the
nail on the head, I just don't think that people quite get what you're saying.
I don't know how many individuals I've talked to about this very
thing in the past few days, and they just can't get it.

I discovered this blog by searching on google. I'm quite excited I found it!

Never the less, Excellent post!
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