Walking down the street... on the web...

Well, this has nearly nothing to do with mobile content, but it is so cool that I couldn't not write about it...

Google has launched a new service inside Google Maps which is called "Streetview". The service allows you to see how the streets actually look like as if you were walking/driving. As I understand Google (or actually its partner for this project, Immersive Media) took a car out on the streets with a special camera on top of it, and there you have it: America is physically on-line...

The great thing is that though these are static images, you can go in any direction with a very intuitive inteface, and it really looks like as if you were walking down the street (a frozen in time street, but still...).

Currently the service covers areas in New York, San Francisco, Las Vegas, Denver & Miami but I am sure they'll get everywhere soon enough...

Anyway, you simply have to check it out yourselves. But beware - it's addictive...