There was an interesting article in the NY Times this week on Google Maps and Switzerland.

If you are familiar with Google’s “Street View” on Google Maps, you know that you can see an image of a building if you have an address.

It’s been pretty helpful for me to use in Geneva to research buildings that I am going to for the first time, so that I’ll recognize them.   It was quite helpful when researching bike shops to find out which ones did repairs.    I couldn’t find an address or a name, but knew what it was next to:

Preliminary research, courtesy of English Forum

Drilling down to Street view of the known address, Auberge de Saviese, to find Hot Point

I never stopped to think about how this might be taken by the Swiss, who have a high value on privacy.  As the article suggests, many Swiss citizens don’t have their name on their letterbox to protect their privacy.

I am glad they reached an agreement – I use the application often for seeking businesses.

What do you think of Google Maps?