Those who have been criticizing the invasion of privacy posed by Google Street View may find some reprieve from their complaints and perhaps appreciate one positive ways by ways the service can actually help the society. More particularly the police authority in solving crime, as in the case of a kidnapped girl somewhere in South-central Virginia. Police authorities were able to track down the victim and her perpetrators through the combination of GPS, cellphone, Google search engine and of course Google Street View.
If you thought that this things only happen in movies, well think again as it can actually happen in real life events. The kidnapping drama involves a 52-year old grand mother and her 9-year old grand daughter who have been missing for a couple of days. The 9-year old girl’s legal guardian sought the help of the police to track down the whereabouts of the child and her grandmother.
The Virginia State Police was able to traced the location of the girl and her grandmother using the girl’s cell phone. The GPS coordinates provided by the telcom provider of the girl’s cellphone was traced by police authorities by searching for the coordinates using Google Street View. They soon found out that girl and her grandmother are staying in a nearby hotel somewhere in Virginia. And to validate the location further, the police authorities used Google Satellite View. Immediately, they went to the hotel and found the girl with her grandmother.
Sounds like your usual CSI TV drama right? Well, it only goes to show that technology is definitely making the things we see on movies, a reality. And no matter how we think that Google Street View is invading our privacy, we got to admit it can be pretty useful too, right?
