You may have noted an odd, alien looking vehicle driving about Almonte yesterday and today. Well, that is the Google Earth Street View car. We are being recorded for posterity and for everyone in the world who would like to visit Almonte virtually.
Google Earth Street view allows internet users the world over to visit communities, drill down to particular street and take a 360 degree view of what is there. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Google_Street_
Google Earth employee Terry Doyle, originally from Ottawa, but now living in Golden River Nova Scotia, is driving the vehicle. He has been in Almonte for the last two days and hopes to finish taping the town tonight, however, he said that he must see his shadow before he can successfully tape and as it has been cloudy, he may need to redo some streets. He told the Millstone that there are 24 Google cars in Ontario, 3 in Ontario at the moment, and they must tape every community between the Quebec border and Sudbury by the end of September.
Google Earth is available in over 48 countries and it rerecords the entire world every three years. Google Earth blurs faces and licence plates to avoid collecting personal information but if you have friends in Moscow and you want to show them your new house in Mississippi Mills, you will only neeed to give them the address and have them use Google Earth to take a look.
The Google Earth tapes of Almonte should be available in about 1 1/2 months.