
An agoraphobic globetrotter who uses Street View to 'travel' - pmcpinto
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/travel/arts-and-culture/agoraphobic-traveller-instagram-google-street-view-photography
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wgerard
Heh that's a pretty cool use of technology!

The best use of Google Cardboard I found was doing exactly this: Using Street
View to "visit" new places.

Related: I wonder if exposure therapy is an avenue anyone's looking at with
VR/AR - it seems like a (relatively) cheap way to do it.

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lreeves
I was just thinking that! Google Earth VR just had a recent update enabling
streetview and it's an absolutely fantastic experience.

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52-6F-62
100%!

The Oculus version is really worth trying for anybody with access.

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Theodores
If I 'globe trot' in person then I do so by bicycle. This may be the best way
to actually travel rather than see the same airports and identical AirBnB's as
everyone else. This has kind of informed my belief that Street View is pretty
good - it is the same perspective and speed.

I also 'send my parents' to places I would like to visit in depth, I also talk
to people from the place of interest who have moved to my area. This satisfies
my intellectual curiosity and saves a lot of time moving around in tin boxes.

This has advantages with places such as Syria - I may only know two people
from there but I can learn lots about the story those newsreaders 'assume'
just by being interested and having time to chat to the friends I have.

One thing is that maps were a large part of my early career, for science and
weather forecasting. Therefore I do know a lot of places on the map, usually
from space and usually with awareness of the weather forecasting challenges
for that location. Knowing where someone's town is helps with the 'oh it's
lovely there...' conversation that follows. Same with holidays, name the
location and I am half way there on what the weather is like right now.

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otterpro
I call this "virtual travel", and I also use Street View as part of my prep
for travel. I survey the area where I want to travel, and make sure that the
potential destination is worthy of site-seeing. It does lose the element of
surprise, but I'm risk-averse, so I'd rather do this than have a negative
surprise. Often, I'd see a lot of beautiful photos on the travel website, but
the reality is often different. For example, if I see a hotel I want to visit,
I check the surrounding, to see if it's suitable for jogging or biking, and
also to make sure the area is not too seedy.

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ocfnash
I recently discovered that quite a bit of Ghana is covered in Street View. I
feel it provides the most authentic armchair-compatible peek available, at
this part of the world that differs so much from my own.

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BenjiWiebe
Someone I know to immigrated from a different country 20+ years ago, and has
never been back, was able to see his sister's new house via Street view. :)

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notahacker
This is what my 89 year old grandfather replaced his caravan holidays with.

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Asooka
Out of curiosity - can anyone weigh in on whether what she's doing is illegal
with regard to copyright?

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toomuchtodo
Violates copyright, but the PR hit to Google would be substantial (tech
company sues over street view photos posted by challenged individual using it
as therapy).

Google owns the Street View data, so they’re under no legal obligation to
pursue as they would if it was third party data they license.

Would be cheaper to bring the person on as a Google Maps evangelist.

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iron0012
I understand and appreciate the concern for privacy, but something important
was diminished when Google Maps started blurring the faces of people who
appeared in Street View. I was surprised by the degree to which the previous
sense of immediacy and vitality, the feeling that "you are there" was so
severely crippled when the face of every human became a blur. :(

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aruggirello
Street View imagery is not that high quality though. I'd rather go with
360cities...

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PMan74
Nice photos but it good that the word travel is in quotes because looking at
curated pictures online is not travelling. Not even close.

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llao
That's kinda of the whole point, yes.

