internet search engine Google so it can put street views of the

city onto its maps.

A car bearing the Google

logo and with a tripod camera on its roof has been spotted

taking photographs of homes and businesses across Bristol.

Google Street View is a new online programme allowing

users to see images of streets and homes, an extension of

href="http://earth.google.com/">Google Earth which shows

streets as aerial images.

By clicking on arrows on the screen, users will feel like they

are walking down the street and will be able to look right,

left or behind them during their virtual, 3D tour.

The programme has already been rolled out in the US and has

sparked several websites dedicated to spotting funny and

unusual things.

Rob Campbell, 46, who saw the Google car in Kingsdown, said

the car drove past his home at about 3pm yesterday.

He said: “I was just talking to someone and spotted this black

hatchback, with Google on the panel, drive past.

“It’s probably all harmless but there’s something rather

creepy about it.

“If anyone else was standing outside your house with a camera,

taking a picture, then you’d probably go and stop them. But

they’ve probably taken thousands of pictures by now without

anyone challenging them.”

Google has confirmed it is currently taking

photographs for Street View UK but would not say where and when

they will be taken.

Before its arrival in Bristol, the Street View car had already

been spotted in London and Birmingham.

Privacy International UK said the tool could breach data

protection laws if people’s faces are shown.

Laura Scott, spokeswoman for Google, said: “This is the next

advancement for Google maps. This has not been launched

anywhere other than the US and we have also done a version for

the Tour de France route which launched a few weeks ago. This

is street-level imagery which will give people a 360 degree

view of the streets of cities and towns.

“There are lots of areas where we think this can be used. It

is great for tourism, if you are looking for a hotel and you

want to see what the area or the parking is like you can take a

look. It’s also useful for students studying urban development

who need to look at street layout.

“It’s been used for businesses. In the US a lot of real estate

companies use it to let house hunters get a feel for an

area.

“It’s also a tool for smaller local businesses to showcase

their store front and give them more prominence.

“Also just as Google can be used for driving directions,

street view gives less confident drivers a chance to see what

they can look out for at street level when they are driving,

rather than just ‘turning left’ they may spot street landmarks

they have seen online.”

When asked about invasion of privacy, she said:  “It’s

about locations not about people. We use face blurring

technology, most streets don’t have that many people on them

and where they do we have effective technology to make sure

they are unidentifiable. We also blur licence plates.

“However, if even with this technology, people are concerned

that they or their cars and homes are identifiable there is a

simple button they can click to remove themselves from the

site.

“These images aren’t live or in real time and when the site

launches things will have changed so you wouldn’t be able to