Google Street View launched last Tuesday at 4am, since then thousands of Kiwis have logged in to find everything from their house to their cat.
And in one unusual case a man trying to steal their car.
Nenad Romano logged onto Street View after his daughter told him about it. He was surprised to see a young hooded man trying to open the bonnet of his daughter’s recently crashed car.
“I mean of course now I am laughing – but if I saw him at the time I wouldn’t laugh,” says Romano.
Whether the man was up to no good we will never know, although it appears he missed the subtle Google Maps car drive past.
Lawyer John Edwards says Street View has thrown up some interesting questions about privacy.
“When you are out in a public space you don’t have much of an expectation of privacy, you have to scrub yourself up a bit. You can’t expect that if you are in a public street you have a right to keep things private.”
Google may promise to take down pictures on Street View if you complain but once you are on Street View the horse may already have bolted.
“In this day and age by the time you see it, it has been around the web five times already, so that may be an empty remedy,” says Mr Edwards.
Don’t be put off if you haven’t caught any criminals on Street View yet – the latest game to play is Sheep View.
See how many sheep you can spot on street view – it’s not that hard.
3 News