Pittsburgh Gets Google Street View's 2nd Squad

A copy of the official press release follows:

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Mountain View, CA. (AP) Google Inc. (NASDAQ: GOOG) announced that Street View's 2nd Squad had been selected for digitizing Pittsburgh, Youngstown, Cleveland, and Chicago.

Google's Street View™ technology is used to present "person in the street" views of what communities, people, storefronts, and houses look like along streets mapped by Google.

The decision was greated with dismay by some civic boosters, who hoped that a more leading-edge GoogleCar or GoogleTrike would be used to capture the essence of Pittsburgh's diverse, contemporary, sustainable cityscape.

"Not everybody gets the Trike", said Ulna Pratesh, Street View route manager, somewhat peevishly. "It's a question of resources. The 2nd Squad will do a fine job with Pittsburg. Then they'll move on to Youngstown and Cleveland, then Buffalo and perhaps Chicago."

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The Mayor's office had suggested using the Google Trike to digitize only certain development properties suggested by the FOL¹ Renaissance Project, and for the infamous 2nd Squad to cover the North Side, the East End, and other relatively unimportant regions. City Council had been split on the Mayor's proposal. Councilman Bill Peduto twittered:


¹FOL = Friends of Luke

Original concept by: @Jetpack

Google Trike: My Perfect Next Job

I've had indications of what my perfect next job could be - I could be a bicycle guide along the Great Allegheny Passage. I could run a pedicab hauling passengers between Station Square and Southside. My latest ambition somewhat diminishes those other possibilities: I could work for Google Maps.

I've only ever seen a Google car once, but there are Google vehicles driving the roads everywhere on behalf of Google Maps. They have funny masts sticking out of them, with all sorts of electronics on the boom - GPS receivers, probably WAAS receivers, and digital cameras pointed in all directions. Recently, this lead to the introduction of Google Streets View.

In fact, here in Pittsburgh, somebody who knew when the Google car was coming staged a some performance art for the Google car to encounter, digitize and document. The Street View of Sampsonia Way is online here.

Street View is very popular. There's a limitation; Google was only documenting what could be seen on public roadways; there was no documentation of footpaths, jogging paths, walkways, or bike trails. Enter: the Google Trike. A perfect next job for me could be pedaling the Google Trike.


The Google Trike is a bicycle that travels where the Google cars can't go. Here's a picture (via BikePittsburgh, thanks!) of the Google Trike on a Pittsburgh trail - the Southside Trail, if I've got that right, looking across the river at downtown.


Here's a picture of a Google Trike mapping a narrow alley in Rome:


Interview with Google Trike Operator Pilot


Google Trike at Stonehenge:


Also, I expect they'll make a contribution to the effective organization of the bicycle dashboard, which cries out for advancement:


The use of a tricycle is inspired. Imagine if we'd had that insight forty years ago, maybe this would've looked different:



This could be my perfect next job. Although, I would suggest, the Google Trike could use fenders, and a bell. And an orange triangle. This is just way cooler than riding a Good Humor tricycle.