Google Street View
Discussion
Have to say that when looking at villas this year, I'm using this more and more (Spain mainly). It's quite brilliant for having a drive round the area you're considering for a far more informed idea of where you're going to end up.
Still finding that villa owners are far too vague about where the villas are. I don't need the precise address, I just need an idea of the area.
Still finding that villa owners are far too vague about where the villas are. I don't need the precise address, I just need an idea of the area.
True but especially with Spain, you often find that that "picturesque area" has a lot of the usual crappy Spanish buildings and a giant twin chimney factory which inexplicably doesn't appear in the "low-down" pictureque views.
On the other hand, you can sometimes be pleasantly surprised.
On the other hand, you can sometimes be pleasantly surprised.
TheD said:
I've also used it this year and I'm not sure if I like it or not. I wonder if I am seeing to much and it takes away any surprises as I like to walk about. At the same time it is helpful if you need to know just how far out in the sticks you are.
I know what you mean. I go away a bit with work and use street view to see where to go running. With the internet you can see photos of hotel gyms webcams showing the hotel and weather, street view and google maps showing the area. You can find running routes from other users and download them to your phone/gps etc. You can tweet Facebook about it or people back home can even follow your activities live online.I went running on the beach recently in just shorts no shoes, heart monitor or GPS watch or map etc. It was really refreshing.
It's all a great resource but sometimes i get somewhere and feel like i've already experienced some of it.
Talking of Italy, I'll be staying in this house later this year. Been using Street View a lot for the planning, including seeking out likely-looking driving roads.
It's great, I've been using it for years. I plan all the places of interest I want to see, then check out the roads, access, parking etc and put them into the Sat Nav. Last year we went to Tuscany, and I was able to go straight to places and find parking, from my streetview recce, even in the middle of the bigger towns and cities, it was like I'd seen a parking space in Florence on streetview, and it was still there for me on arrival! Best one was Berlin, I had 35 attractions programmed into my Sat Nav, with nearby parking dialled in, at almost every destination we were able to go straight to it and park up just as was planned. It's really very useful to walk up and down the road and explore a few side roads, ditto with hotels, bars, restaurants etc, to get a feel for the area.
I'm pretty OCD with holiday planning though, military precision.
I'm pretty OCD with holiday planning though, military precision.
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