[Closed] I've just had my house smudged out on Google Street View

Why?

Cos they can see him eating his dinner 😉

Did you live there when the image was taken? Google Earth image of our house is 5yrs old, same with my workplace.

I passed a google streetview car the other day on the M4, hung around near it for a few miles hoping to get in a piccy, Any idea how long they take to upload them ?

Did you live there when the image was taken?

Yep sure did. When I heard it was possible I just thought why have a picture of our property for all to see. The street fair enough but not the house. I didn't think Google would do it to be honest but the house now sticks out like a sore thumb as it's the only one that is smudged out.
A while back some "roofers" knocked on the door when I was at work and by the time my mum had answered one of them had climbed onto the roof via the garage. This was before I had it smudged out.

why have a picture of our property for all to see.

You realise the same view is available to anyone standing outside it, yes?

A while back some "roofers" knocked on the door when I was at work and by the time my mum had answered one of them had climbed onto the roof via the garage. This was before I had it smudged out.

You did well there, it's a well known fact that before dodgy tradesmen target a house that they're standing outside, they look up the property on Google maps to see if it's smudged out or not. Criminals only knock on the doors of unsmudged houses.

Wouldn't smudging it out draw more attention to it?

Of course, you can't smudge it out in real life - so what was the point?

Or will people on the street be obliged to wear blinkers when they pass.

Did you not consider the prospect that now all those types of folk, those who case out a place via street view, will want to know what's in the smudged out house?

Shame. if I'm looking to buy a house I normally streetview it to get a feel for if the estate agent photos do it justice/have a bit of artistic licence. I guess folks like me will just move on and look at another if yours ever comes up for sale.

When I streetview my parent's house it has my father standing on the doorstep. It's quite nice to see him there as he's been dead a couple of years.

Vaseline on the eyeballs like Star Wars lenses?

When I streetview my parent's house it has my father standing on the doorstep. It's quite nice to see him there as he's been dead a couple of years.

This is nice.

Digressing from thread but did you read that story about the kid and his games console? He has a racing car game and his deceased father is the 'ghost car' (the fastest time on the track). One day head beat the ghost car but stopped before the finish line so his dad would always be there.

When I streetview my parent's house it has my father standing on the doorstep. It's quite nice to see him there as he's been dead a couple of years.

how cool is that! 🙂

in the limited bits of Germany that got Streetviewed, loads of people got their houses smudged out.

so people went out with a digital camera and took higher resolution photos of smudged out houses and added them to Panoramio.

so all you do is hit the "photos" button in Google Maps to see an even better image than the streetview car took.

I'm sure there are some that think it's like a live webcam in to their house/driveway.

A colleague got his house smudged out because you could see his wife in the bedroom window. In just a towel.

Think it only occurred to him to do it after the reaction in the office after he announced the fact 8)

in the limited bits of Germany that got Streetviewed, loads of people got their houses smudged out.
so people went out with a digital camera and took higher resolution photos of smudged out houses and added them to Panoramio.

I've just built a wall of frosted glass in front of my house - that'll learn 'em!

Presuming the OP is the first in his street to have his house obscured, I guess most of the rest will follow promptly.

Hmmm, interesting that you can get Google to do this OP but still I can't figure out quite what the point of having your home smudged on street view is.

It's not like going ex directory with your phone line, and dodgy types will still be able to work out that the blur between No.42 and No.46 is probably No.44 so how have you cunningly evaded them exactly?

If anything the one blurred property on the street will pique people's interest not less... Shirley?

and if it's a housing estate, then #44 probably looks exactly like #42 and #46 too, other than the door colour and the car parked out front

I'm stood outside ours unloading flatpack shed from the roof of my old car (so at least 5 years old).
Should I be ‘smudging'?
Introduced myself to a visitor the other day, and she replied "I know, I recognise you from Google streetview"
Could have been a lucky bluff though...........
Paranoia approaching..........

I really can't see the point, as the only people looking at your house on StreetView who know who's house it is are people who actually know who lives there, anyone else sees a completely anonymous house along with a bunch of anonymous houses.
There is a friend of mine who lives in March, Cambridgeshire, I've visited her house, stayed there, in fact, but when I look on StreetView I'm damned if I can be sure which house in the street is hers.
Face it, OP, you are nowhere near as famous as you might like to think you are, in fact, like pretty much all of us, nobody cares who you are or where you live.

Had the missus smudged out last week as they'd captured her walking home from the kid's school. Was hoping they'd do a professional hit but they just blurred her image.

When I heard it was possible I just thought why have a picture of our property for all to see.

I'm in a neighbourhood watch area so any suspicious rogue spending more time outside the house, working out a means of accessing the property, is more likely to be spotted than if they did most of their scoping out online.
I don't think most people are aware this is possible. Most don't care whether it's possible. I am glad it is so why not? And no I know I'm not famous but I don't like the fact it's on Street View without my permission. I'll definately not be installing CCTV like some people do.
If anyone needs to find the house then they'll need to resort to old skool methods. There's a big house number on the front door.

Well I dunno about your house, but I doubt a rogue would spend long scoping out my house. They'd nip over the back fence and smash a window. Plus the front view reveals nothing unusual anyway - a door and some windows, same as most people.

Do you live in a castle or some kind of secure complex?

Well that was easy!

A lot of completely pointless things are easy.

That's not a reason to do them though.

ma and pa used to live in phuket til recently. creatures of habit, theyd always visit the same restaurant in nai yang every day, same time. think you can guess the rest 🙂

curious about street view one day, they zoomed in on the road through the resort, and lo and behold, there they were sitting outside the restaurant in their usual place 😀

get em to delete the house entirely off street view and stitch together the houses on either side.

That way you can avoid paying Council Tax.

Did they smudge the satellite view too or can all the roofers still see your roof from space

I'm in a neighbourhood watch area so any suspicious rogue spending more time outside the house, working out a means of accessing the property

Make sure the 45 degree aerial shot on Google also blurs it out.
Also make sure the estate agent hasn't left the property schedule online.
And check the plans aren't available from the council.

Because that's how burglars work - they plan incredibly elaborate Mission Impossible style heists by carefully studying your house to see if they abseil through your skylight from a stealth helicopter 😀

I'm so posh that I'm not on street view.. of course the Arial view is waaaay more informative but they couldn't possibly be of any use.... 8)

I quite like looking at our house on Streetview, quite like the fact it's on there.

You have a lot of faith in Neighbour watch.

Ahhh the benefits of being down a private drive that streetview can't access.....

...are completely outweighed by the fact that if the postman slips over on ice whilst walking down it the owners of the five houses down it are jointly liable

I'm in favour of this as my house is a shamefully derelict hovel, and even should I pull my finger out and make it wholesome, google will broadcast my shame to the world till such time as the photocar pops 'round again. I'm with you OP, us prideful but lazy scrubbers should be able to hide our shame from the wider world (and anyone we buy stuff from on here, who may then out us as having unkempt lawns)

I have been helping burglars since before street view existed I have never yet heard of one planning a "mission" using it . Better spending your time making sure your door locks are flush with the frame so they can't be twisted out with molegrips .
Don't park nice cars outside on a night and don't leave windows open .And teaching your teenage kids not to tell their mates when that are going on holid
In my experience "planning" consists of driving round looking for opportunities.

A while back some "roofers" knocked on the door when I was at work and by the time my mum had answered one of them had climbed onto the roof via the garage. This was before I had it smudged out.

Good thing you had it smudged out then, now any wood be theives won't realise there's a house there. 🙄

Really don't get it.

Just had a thought. Any savvy burglars who find out what town the OP is living in could just go round it on street view looking for the smudged out house, then given he's on STW they'd be sure to find expensive bikes inside.

Sleep tight.

OP has too much time on his hands..

Moonlander

I back OP on this, i think Google are taking a bit of a liberty with this. If we all did what the OP did, then we would regain a little of our agency over what is in the public domain

I back OP on this, i think Google are taking a bit of a liberty with this. If we all did what the OP did, then we would regain a little of our agency over what is in the public domain

Unless you live on a private estate, the view of your house is in the public domain.....

I'm pretty sure that my house is firmly in the public domain.

It'd be much harder to get to if it wasn't. 😀

Unless you live on a private estate, the view of your house is in the public domain.

Sure, but not so available to them.

Your face is in the public domain, you probably wouldn't like it on loads of advertising hoardings

I'm pretty sure that my house is firmly in the public domain.

It'd be much harder to get to if it wasn't.

That's hilarious!

One of the advantages of living in a private, i.e. un-adopted, road was we never had Google Street View.

One of the advantages of living in a private, i.e. un-adopted, road was we never had Google Street View.

Why is that an advantage ?

Your face is in the public domain, you probably wouldn't like it on loads of advertising hoardings

I wouldn't mind the cash would be nice.

It's a bit like when BACS/Standing Orders/electronic money transfers first started, people would say 'ooh, I don't like to give you my bank details, I'd rather give you a cheque...'
You can smudge streetview but all the info's still there.

One of the advantages of living in a private, i.e. un-adopted, road was we never had Google Street View.

Some private/unadopted roads do appear on Google Street View.

I appear on streetview a few times.. every image is me giving the finger to the camera

I've just had my house smudged out on Google Street View

[IMG] [/IMG]

I appear on streetview a few times.. every image is me giving the finger to the camera

[img] [/img]

One of the advantages of living in a private, i.e. un-adopted, road was we never had Google Street View.

I'm going to put my house on the market first thing tomorrow and move to a private road and get some of that "advantage"

I'm sick of there being a few pictures of my road on the internet somewhere that nobody ever looks at.

I have to admit I didn't know you could get google to smudge out pictures of bridges.

CharlieMungus - Member
Unless you live on a private estate, the view of your house is in the public domain.
Sure, but not so available to them.

Your face is in the public domain, you probably wouldn't like it on loads of advertising hoardings

Well, that's hardly the same thing now, is it? Anyone can walk past your house and look at it, and often do, same as loads of people walk past you every day and look at you, and you them.
Which isn't the same as a photo of you or your house being used to advertise a product for someone else's monetary gain.
On StreetView, all houses and buildings are effectively anonymous, unless there's a chuffing great sign on the front with a name on it.
Even having a postcode is useless, because it covers around fourteen or so houses.
Obfuscating your house is, fundamentally a complete waste of time.

If your neighbour wears Google glasses do they "smudge" out his vision when he takes out the bins and looks in your direction.
Could be dangerous when driving down your street too.

Big list of advantages there might have to give this a go.

The last place I lived the previous owners must not have heard of that feature so planted a massive palm tree to make sure nobody knew there was a house there
[img] [/img]

What house?

exactly

It looks a little odd seeing a blurred house amongst those whose lounge windows can be peered through and whose side entrances can be seen. I stand by my decision and am quite proud that I did when everyone here is apparently so happy to show their houses off on the internet.

If my house was for sale then sure I'd like whatever publicity I could get if it helps to fetch a high value. So I'd stick it on an Estate Agents site. In fact I might even try my luck selling it privately though I haven't looked in to that. I wouldn't as I intend to live here much longer than I already have (decades).

Perhaps those who are living in a property which has been burgled may think similarly to me. Showing various entry points of a private property at a location which is easy to pin point doesn't reassure me that a Street View of my house is a good thing. Made me feel a little vulnerable in fact.

Street View is great to have a nose about on. I just think if someone's going to have a nose about my property then they'll have to come over here, in full public view, where my neighbours and neighbours, neighbours are more likely to question their intent. If a thief looked at my house on Street View, saw it as being easy pickings, then I'd expect they'd be more prepared at night to come and try their luck.

At the end of the day somebody decided to take a picture of my house and post it on the internet for all and sundry to see. I'm not happy with that. It was in my power to hide it and I'm happy with my decision.

What tree?

[IMG] [/IMG]

[quote=bigblackheinoustoe ]I stand by my decision and am quite proud that I did when everyone here is apparently so happy to show their houses off on the internet.

Is it everybody else pointing out how pointless it is which has made you so proud?

Perhaps those who are living in a property which has been burgled may think similarly to me.

I reckon you should ask your insurance company for a discount now you've decreased the chances of being burgled so much.

people would say 'ooh, I don't like to give you my bank details, I'd rather give you a cheque

A quick walk or drive down any street will tell you enough, side gates, security lights everything else.
If there was a link between crime and street view I'm sure the Daily Wail would have been calling for it to be banned. The aerial view would probably give much more useful info showing of you have a shed, how secluded the back entrance is, ease of access from the back of the house etc.

The information you are obscuring is easily got hold of by driving round, the stuff that is left out there can only be got from aerial photography and satellites. If I was using streetview to "case the joint"* I'd probably be aware that it could be out of date and probably drive past to check that it was still the same and have a good look at any house that has been blurred out.

and none of this stops the random/opportunist/smack head who just decides that your house look easy to break into/needs more smack.

*obviously I'm not a crim, I'd also probably pay some professionals to do it anyway, wouldn't want to put my back out lifting your TV or gold bullion.

[quote=mikewsmith ]A quick walk or drive down any street will tell you enough

Don't be silly, the neighbourhood watch peeps will be reporting all the cars driving down the street casing joints with [s]GoPros[/s] SJ4000s

[img] [/img]

Active members of a prime time-wasting site telling a fellow time waster he's wasting his time.

Except that he is more usefully wasting his time than they are.

And there went another 10 minutes of my life (because I also had a look at Streetview to see if my abode is there).

Perhaps those who are living in a property which has been burgled may think similarly to me.

I've been burgled twice, and I'm still not seeing the point.

Though strangely, both times were before Street View existed. How's that work, then?

Though strangely, both times were before Street View existed. How's that work, then?

They can now see it's not worth burgling you.

Ha.... I modelled up my house in sketchup and submitted it for google earth.

Made me feel a little vulnerable in fact.

Oh you poor thing. 😐

I stand by my decision and am quite proud that I did when everyone here is apparently so happy to show their houses off on the internet.

The irony being of course that you'll be the only person who ever sees the smudged out house on streetview.

Hmmm. If I was "bad guy" I might be very curious who lived in a house that had been smudged. Politician? Celebrity? Senior police? Ex SAS? High profile ex con? Definitely something to hide.

They can now see it's not worth burgling you.

Sadly, that's probably true.

I've also been burgled. However, I'm 100% sure that street view had nothing to do with it. And I'm sure it has very little to do with most burglaries either. I don't think the OP realises how most burglaries are conducted.

Burglars don't choose a house and then scope it out. They walk around looking for quick easy opportunities. The only reason they would target a particular property is if they think there's something particularly high in value in there. So by smudging your house out all you've done is draw attention to it.

However I'm sure burglars don't trawl street view, because you can't see much on it anyway. Much better to walk the streets at 3am (or even during the day) and look with your own eyes.

If a thief looked at my house on Street View, saw it as being easy pickings, then I'd expect they'd be more prepared at night to come and try their luck.

Well then make sure it's not easy pickings!

[i]And there went another 10 minutes of my life (because I also had a look at Streetview to see if my abode is there).[/i]

It took you 10 minutes? You need more internet practice, thats about 20 times longer than it should take.

Just had a quick look at our house to see how genuinely useful the information is to the local crims....

Well, they could always come round and steal the caravan that is sitting on the drive that the previous owner took with him when he moved out almost 4 years ago.
Then there's the side entrances that are shadowy voids that you cannot see down at all. Oh, and there's the front door. I think that's about it.

Out of curiousity, just looked at my parent's house and you can't look at it front on - the map won't settle in front of their house for som reason. But, you can see that my brother was visiting, as was my sister by the cars on the drive. Interestingly, the neighbours house is blurred out, it's the only one in the street that is and it looks a bit weird.

In all seriousness - I am not too concerned about my house being on Google maps, but I do try to take care about what information I put on Facebook. Never ceases to amaze me the amount of people who broadcast to all their friends (and god knows who else) about the fact that they are all off to Florida for 2 weeks from Saturday.....