View holiday cottages on Google Street View
Today (11th March), Google has rolled out its Street View technology featuring 360-degree images of more than 99 per cent of the United Kingdom’s roads – from the Shetlands to Penzance.
No doubt may of you will have seen the Google camera cars and tricycles surveying the country, but how popular is street view?
The telegraph reports that…
a survey commissioned by Google from polling company YouGov indicated that Streetview’s launch has coincided with a 30 per cent increase in people using the website’s mapping technology.
Six out of ten of those users had consulted Streetview to find out what a place they were going looked like, while one-third had used it to look at locations abroad and 21 per cent had used it to help while house hunting.
Not only can Google Street View be used to check out holiday homes for sale, but more importantly, holiday cottage owners can utilise the technology by allowing potential guests view their holiday cottage and its surroundings – remotely.
However, it should be noted that it’s advisable that your actual holiday home address is not disclosed openly. It should only be disclosed to potential holidaymakers who you have had some contact with, and trust.
Why? There is the obvious risk that burglars could use street view to check the security of your property, view images of your cottage valuables (from your website or advertisement) and check your availability calendar to see when its vacant.
It should be noted that Google allows users to request that their property be removed from the service.
How to use Google Street View
Visit Google maps, enter a location or postcode, zoom in and if images are available the man marker is yellow, not grey. Simply drag it onto the map where streets are highlighted blue to see street view.
Use the technology to promote your cottage, but don’t ignore the security implications.
An image of Windermere using Google Street View.
