Squaring with Google

Crown of Roses

Squaring with Google? No, not a rant about Google threatening privacy or innovation but an unexpected benefit from the Street View feature of Google Maps.

Almost nothing in the “Crown of Roses” image above is square with anything else. Working from memory in Lightroom, I know that the girl was walking up hill but surely the green utility box can’t be tilted so far off the vertical? If I use the side of the green box as a plumb line then the slope of the hill disappears, the girl looks to be headed for a busted nose on the sidewalk, and I lose 25% or more of the image to the crop! I compromise and post that to the Saturday Morning, Austin web gallery but I am not happy about it.

Today, in love with the rich colors, I decide to use the image for a blog posting but the angles are still nagging me: I want the picture to be true but how can I know for sure? If only I had taken a wide angle context shot to use as a reference! And then it occurs to me that this is a “street” photograph in a U.S. city and that I should therefore be able to find the location in Google Maps and compare with that …

Google’s street image capture for Austin was made a few years ago, before the skyline went through its latest growth spurt, but the mural was already there, cracks and all. You can see for yourself by bringing up Google Maps for 640 San Jacinto, Austin, TX and switching to Street View; the painted armadillo is walking on the level and the utility box, while perpendicular to the sidewalk, is significantly off vertical. I make the adjustment to match reality rather than my perception of it and that’s what you see here. The out-of-kilter angles only add to the surreal quality.

Now I am wondering what else I might use Google’s Street View for; scouting for locations maybe?