If Google were to have a mascot, it might be the Street View car, with its towering camera rig and corporate logo exterior. From a report: There’s good reason for that. In the 12 years since the search giant debuted Street View, which photographs the world at street level, the cars have been the company’s ambassadors around the globe, prowling urban metropolises and rural countrysides. On Friday, Google revealed how much work those cars and other devices have done to map the world: the company has captured more than 10 million miles of Street View imagery. The distance, Google said, would amount to circling the Earth more than 400 times.
The company also said Google Earth, the search giant’s aerial mapping service, has a total of 36 million square miles of satellite imagery for people to browse. With that collection, Google has mapped out the parts of the world where 98% of people live. The numbers mark the first time Google has released figures on how much of the world its services have charted, providing insight into the scope of Google Maps. With more than 1 billion monthly users, Maps is one of the company’s most popular products. It’s also a potent way for the search giant to deliver local advertising.
of this story at Slashdot.
Source:: Slashdot