Sunday, February 21, 2010

Google Street View Might Be The World's Most Comprehensive Multimedia Art Project

Scuba divers in Bergen, Norway, chase down the Google Street Car.

Is there any medium that captures the breadth of the human experience better than Google Street View?

What was merely meant to be a navigational tool has become, in my eyes, the most comprehensive multimedia art project ever.

Within the far-reaching and boundless thoroughfares of the world, the scope of humanity is on full display, faithfully captured from the height of 2.5 meters by the omnidirectional cameras of the Google Street Vehicles (which, in addition to several cars, have included a tricycle and a snow mobile.)

The result is an actual snapshot of daily life on nearly every street on the planet. And as you can imagine, it's not always pretty. In fact, often times, it's downright ugly. Or astonishingly bizarre. However, it is always unflinchingly real.

This is a day on Earth.

Firefighters rescuing a cat stuck in a tree.

Kids running behind the Google Car down a flooded street.

A kiss caught on the streets of Paris.

A woman staring out on the Mediterranean Sea in Italy.

A rainbow in Idaho.

Live action role players fighting it out.

A street musician by the name of Fear Salesman performs on a sidewalk.

A giant pumpkin in a field.

A thong-wearing woman entering a vehicle.

An odd sticky-note-covered car.

A Segway tour.

A person dressed like a ham.

A marching band walking down an alley.

A woman in a bikini passed out in the street.

A child laying on the sidewalk/street.

A man laying in the back of a pickup truck.

A burning house.

A burning car.

What appears to be a laser beam shot from the sky.

A strange apparition/optical illusion/UFO/phenomena in the sky.

A woman falls off her bicycle as she's nearly run over by a fire truck.

A woman appears to be eaten by the trunk of her car.

A child falls off his bike.

A car flipped over from an accident.

In this 3-part sequence, a deer gets hit by the Google Car

A person dressed in a bear suit waves at the passing Google Car in England.

Some Irish boys flip off the Google Car.

A cyclist flips the bird.

A girl flashes her breasts to the passing Google Car.

A Google Car spots another Google Car.

The Google Snow Mobile traverses a ski slope at the Vancouver Olympics.

Bird poop on the camera lens.

A man pulls his pants down on the sidewalk.

A man pees on the side of the road.

Two men take a pee break on the side of the highway.

A woman kneels to pee behind a car.

A man vomits on a sidewalk in the UK.

A man lays passed out on the side of the road.

A man walks down the street with a high-powered assault rifle in the USA .

A man points a gun at a running child in New Orleans.

A man assaults an arresting officer.

A man scales a gate in perhaps a break-in attempt.

An apparent drug deal sequence.

Two muggers on foot approach a man on a bicycle. This picture led to their eventual arrest.

A man in a white van solicits a prostitute.

A prostitute on the side of the highway in Europe.

Prostitutes shielding themselves from the hot sun.

A man exits a strip club.

A man dies in the streets of New York City.


What interesting moment have you spotted on Google Street View?

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