Thought I would re-use this topic rather than starting a new topic.
Google Maps have now launched 'street view' in Australia. I did not think this would cover my home area, but I was surprised that it did.
I suspect the pictures were taken during last summer.
I am not sure how much bandwidth this version of Google Earth uses on an internet connection (I suspect high because of the pictures), because I am currently at work so using their facility.
As an example:
If you launch
http://maps.google.com/maps?ll=-35.180995,138.4782&z=19&t=h&hl=en you will see a aerial picture of the Seaford CFS brigade.
The 'street view' white button will be displayed aftre a few seconds wait, in the top right-hand corner of the aerial photograph. After pressing this, a blue line will be displayed on the roads where street level pictures have been taken.
If you double-click on the line near the entrance road to the Seaford CFS carpark, a pop-up window will display a street-level picture.
The default orientation seems to be North facing, so you are looking at the new housing sub-division noise fence.
Click on the either of the top arrow buttons on the street-level picture, and you will spin to face a different direction. Thus you can turn to look at the Seaford CFS brigade shed.
Has a side-note, it interests me that the weblink address for Google Maps contains the GPS reference for the map location. So Seaford CFS is at South 35.180995, East 138.4782. But I cannot input a new GPS reference into the web address to get an accurate placement on a map.
This is both scary (of what everyone in the world can see) and exciting for planning holiday or other trips. You can now see what the building or facilities look like before you go their.