Someone talked to a driver of a Google Street View car:
http://ekstreme.com/thingsofsorts/fun-web/chatting-with-a-google-street-view-driver
<<# Google has a centre in Milton Keynes where this operation was based in. The drivers just showed up for "a driving job" (his words) and didn't know it was for Google until the arrived to pick up the cars.
# The drivers were given training to use the computers inside the car. It's not hard: it's a large-ish touch screen (I guessed about 17in or maybe a 19in when I saw it) with a record and a pause button.
# The screen is to the left of the driver in the passenger seat with a large server at the back in the trunk. The back seats of the car were removed – it was just a big space. The connections into the server were just power and ethernet. The ethernet seemed to be going up to the camera but I'm not sure if it ran to something else.
# The camera is rain sensitive. It collapses in a very funky way and has to be covered. The drivers are under strict instructions to do so.>>
[Via Ionut at http://friendfeed.com/e/ebee4799-2e29-f3a8-cfb8-41279e226b98/Chatting-with-a-Google-Street-View/] |
