Nevermind being Googled, I've been Street Viewed...

I set off for my run tonight with a bit of a jaunty spring in my step. A little too jaunty for a man who has just endured his first day back in work after two weeks and one day on his holibobs. If the truth be known, as busy as it was, work wasn't half bad and it was lovely seeing colleagues that I'd not seen in a while (two weeks and one day to be exact). As I rounded a corner about four kilometers into the run I spied a dark car coming toward me with what looked like a periscope mounted on its roof. It looked suspiciously like the car that Google uses to capture its Google Street View imagery. Within seconds my stride elongated and I tried to look as elegant and athletic as I could for my moment of Google glory.

By coincidence, I read today, as I'm sure many of you will have, the news about the Florida woman who was captured by the Google Street View camera at her front door without a stitch on, in her birthday suit, butt naked and bloody starkers. Whatever her reasons for appearing nekkid on her doorstep, it can't be that pleasant to be captured in that vulnerable state by a Google Street View camera and then that image be available to millions of people, including details of the address.

Having said that and expressed some degree of sympathy for this woman's predicament, one of my favorite websites has to be Street View Funny because of its collection of scenes that Street View witnesses. Sometime, by pure chance, the Google Street View car will happen upon a scene. Sometimes people who have prior knowledge that the Street View car is going to be in their neighbourhoods have lined the streets to welcome it, others have staged elaborate scenes in what can only be described as the ultimate form of street theatre.

Indeed, I was captured by Street View when Google photographed the streets of Cardiff a few years ago. In fact, I was captured twice in about 12 hours. I remember reading in the news that they were photographing streets of numerous places in the UK and so I well remember seeing and recognising the car as it passed me on my way home from work one evening. I said to my partner at the time, "I'm sure I've just been snapped by the Google Street View car...?"

The next morning, I saw the same car again as it approached the bus I was sat on as I made my way into work. Admittedly, the one of me on the bus is pretty blurred and even I would not have picked me out, had I not known where to look. You'll have to take my word for it. I remember thinking then, wouldn't it be funny if I was caught in both images. And indeed, when Street View was launched in the UK, the first two locations I checked were Stuart Street and St Mary Street in Cardiff and, Bob's your uncle (Fanny's your aunt), there I was.

I'm sure that there are thousands who would be able to pick themselves out from Street View images but I wonder how many appear in more than one image? And of those that are captured in more than one image, what is the greated distances separating the locations where thay were taken? What are the greatest time differences; mine were a mere 12 hours apart but are there any that run to months or even years?

Incidentally, as the car I saw tonight came closer, it became apparent that it was not the Google Street View car but someone transporting a pipe which they'd tied to the back of their vehicle. All my primping and preening had been in vain and, as quickly as my stride had elongated and I'd tried to adopte that look of elegance and athleticism, I slumped back to my purple faced panting shuffle.