You know the routine: small cars weighed down with large cameras are spotted in some city. Then, without any warning, a Google Street View update occurs weeks or months later. But it looks like photos of Spain should become public in the very near future, and a more comprehensive international release schedule may also have been made known.
The Spanish site Blog Urbanismo announced that it’s been invited to a briefing at which Google Spain’s tourism director will share the stage with Madrid’s manager of tourism. The briefing will take place tomorrow, and is all about the launch of Street View in Spain. The French blog Zorgloob shares some additional details by stating, “[T]he facades of buildings of a handful of Iberian cities will be visible in Google Maps.”
Spain, Pre-Street View
So far, so good. Google hasn’t encountered much resistance in Spain, and the country is right next to France, which Street View has already covered.
As for what else is on the Street View agenda, Zorgloob provides some official-sounding answers, but Google Translate garbles things a bit. “Then comes the turn of Italy, always with three or four cities. Germany – at least Munich, Berlin and Frankfurt – will be online in spring 2009, announced the spokesman for the firm in that country. It will then tour the UK and the Netherlands.”
So there you have it, at least in theory. Big hat tips go to Alex Chitu and Frank Taylor, and we’ll be sure to report if any new timeframes or more solid dates are announced.
