Much has changed in the three years since Google launched Street View. Privacy was not nearly as contentious in the five US cities – New York, San Francisco, Las Vegas, Miami and Denver – as it currently is in Germany, and the camera resolution wasn't technically as good. On both these scores, Parsons says, Google has continued to innovate: "With each new release the imagery is of a higher quality and there are more tools to protect privacy, the technology evolves and it's easier to navigate."
The company's exploration to the southernmost continent, Antarctica, also marks the company's visit to a continent where it isn't facing – or has faced – legal proceedings. Since launch, Street View has attracted legal complaints from private citizens, criminal investigations from authorities, and close scrutiny by alarmed governments.
