Quezi

Buckingham Palace: missing from Google Street View (photo by Sachin CC-BY)

Google’s Street View was launched yesterday in the UK. Supplying 360 degree imagery of the streets and roads of London and 24 other cities from Aberdeen to Southampton, it follows on from successful launches in 9 other countries including United States, Japan, Australia and France.

But when looking at the map of London, one area does not have a street view: Buckingham Palace and the surrounding streets of The Mall, Constitution Hill, and Horse Guards Road. Why is this? Security concerns? No, apparently it was a ‘technical fault with the car’, according to a Google spokesman, and will be included in a future update.

As to be expected with the Britain, the biggest challenge to Google drivers was the British weather. 2008’s miserable summer of rain made it difficult to find suitable days to take out the camera cars. London also caused problems because of its one way streets, no parking areas and high buildings.

Google’s cameras covered 22,369 miles to complete the first part of this survey. Cities covered include London, Edinburgh, Leeds, Bradford, Cambridge, Cardiff, Belfast, Birmingham, Manchester, Liverpool, Oxford, Sheffield, Nottingham, Derby, Bristol, Coventry, Glasgow, Aberdeen, Swansea, York, Newcastle, Dundee, Southampton, Norwich, Scunthorpe.

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