Google announced a new feature for Google Maps earlier today. The new feature enables users to get a better view of the streets of San Francisco, New York, and Las Vegas. Now someone in Sri Lanka can get a glimpse of how the Las Vegas strip looks like without actually going.
How does it work? First, point your browser to one of those cities. After that, a Street View button will appear and so will a camera icon. Once you click on the camera icon, you will be asked to zoom in and an icon of a person will show up (I drew an arrow pointing at the person icon):
With your mouse, you can drag and drop the icon of the man anywhere in the blue-outlined streets. Once you drop the man there, a screenshot of that location will appear. As an example, I dropped the man at 3600 Las Vegas Blvd S., the location of the famous Bellagio hotel.
As of right now, I do not know what Google’s plans are for expanding this feature to other cities. But I can definitely say that the competition between Google Street View and Microsoft Live Search Maps will probably intensify further, thus provoking both companies to expand such features faster. Microsoft provides the same feature from the point-of-view of inside a race car, a sports car, and in person.
