Google Street View is a magical realm of accidental crimes in progress, fires and other assorted serendipitous fun. Now, you’ll be able to scroll around the inside of businesses! Which is cool — but here’s how it could be cooler.
The aimlessness of Street View is what makes it so fun. You can “wander” from block to block, street to street, town to town even, as if in a drunken stupor. Manifest Destiny. Unfortunately, the interior version isn’t so seamless — in fact you’ll only be able to access navigable stores via Google Places, rather than Maps. This is a bummer. I want to be able to walk right up to the front door of my favourite local pharmacy on Street View, click the door and be able to check for myself whether or not the shelves are too high for me to reach. Or something. The point is, this should be integrated. Completely integrated. Perhaps Google is waiting until the store shots are more filled in — right now it’s only taking submissions from business owners in a handful of cities.
[Google Places via PCW]