Street View's 1st images to be from J'lem

Calcalist learns Google service to start photographing in Israel's capital in one month, following Ministry of Justice's green light

Meir Orbach, Calcalist|Published: 08.23.11 , 13:58

A day after Google got the green light to photograph Israel's streets for its Street View service, Calcalist has learned that the US giant's first location is to be Jerusalem.

The decision to begin shooting in Jerusalem is hardly surprising in light of the fact that Google prefers to shoot on locations that generate interest and are popular among surfers.

Google Street View allows surfers to view city streets around the world from a pedestrian's viewpoint. The images are captured by special vehicles which photograph the location at a 360-degree radius.

The street photography in Jerusalem is scheduled to begin in a month and a half and might cause a storm among the city's residents – mainly from the city's ultra-orthodox neighborhoods.

Attempts in other locations around the world show that the service can meet opposition mainly for reasons of privacy which is why the service was discontinued in Germany.

In the interest of obtaining a permit to photograph in Israel, Google accepted several restrictions such as its acknowledgment of the Ministry of Justice's Law, Information and Technology Authority's jurisdiction to take criminal or administrative action against the company and the acknowledgment of the rights of Israelis to take legal action related to the service against the company even though the Street View database is operated and located outside Israel's territory.

Google was unavailable for comment.

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