How Google 360 Street View is so much more than just a way to see what your driving destination looks like.

I went to the Google Streetview Summit in London in September and experienced yet another incredible year of learning all about the latest Google Street View, maps, Earth and business programs as well as having had an opportunity to meet some of the most incredibly interesting and brilliant people that are literally changing the way we view and live in the world.

A huge takeaway from these summits continues to be how these programs that we all somewhat take for granted today as being the “how we get around” and “how we find places we are looking for” are really doorways to so much more. As important and incredibly useful the former reasons are to our day to day lives, the later are actually even more useful to other aspects of our lives that we typically are never even aware of.

So you know, Street View is not all just about finding the front door to a place you’ve never been anymore. It’s being used by businesses and governments all over the world for a huge variety of reasons, from promoting destinations to saving children’s lives from dangerous street crossings.

Some ways Street View is changing the game that you may not know:

• Conservation
• Heritage and culture
• Safety and health
• Industry
• Travel
• Scientific study

I’m going to break these up into multiple posts because each topic really deserves as much airtime as it can get – and to be fair, I’m completely fascinated with how they are all changing the world as we know it. 

Suffice it to say, as I do for my own ventures, I’m going to ask you to think about your own organization specifically as we traverse these opportunities. I think you may just find there is something of value you never thought of that Street View or one of these other free Google programs can do for you as well.