Have you ever been searching for property online and are curious of how the surrounding neighborhood looks like? Google Maps has added a new Street View feature that makes it possible for you to view certain neighborhoods in a few cities around the country. Galveston is one of the cities chosen to be added to Google Maps' new Street View feature. Investors can now get street-level views of real estate opportunities from the comfort of their own homes for free.
Google Maps introduced the Street View feature earlier this year. It allows users to get 360-degree street-level views of downtown streets in some of the country’s most popular destinations.
To snap the pictures, Google mounted digital cameras on the roof of passenger cars -- reportedly Chevy Cobalts, according to the tech blog Gizmodo -- and drove around San Francisco.
San Francisco was one of the first cities featured on Google Street ViewStreet View was initially rolled out for five major cities: San Francisco, New York, Las Vegas, Denver and Miami. San Diego, Los Angeles, Houston and Orlando, Fla., were recently added.
Streets for which Street View is available are outlined on the map in blue. Users can click on an outlined city street to access the 360-degree picture of the street. From there, users can zoom in on specific buildings or view the surrounding area.
Street View has its limits, as not every street within a city's boundaries may be available. And while the photos are high resolution, it can be hard to zoom in on details out of the immediate vicinity.
Street View could be a boon for "landmark drivers" who prefer driving instructions such as "Turn left at the large brick church, and drive until you get to the pizza place on the corner" as opposed to "Meet me at Second Street and Fourth Avenue." It certainly reveals how far Google will go to prove its mapping prowess -- and, incidentally, attract users to more localized advertising.
While Google did not have real estate investors in mind when Street View was created, it does offer investors the ability to view some of the country’s hotspots without getting on a plane. Continued expansion of the Street View feature could also give investors looking for property in smaller markets a similar capability.
Street View will improve as more cities are added and the technology is advanced. Investors can benefit from what is already on the table, however, because Street View can give them views of areas with which they may not be familiar.
Although Street View should not, of course, be used alone to decide on a property, it can give an investor a good indication of whether a certain property is worth an in-depth look. |