Richard Grant, an editor at Faculty 1000, has pulled a weird coup of the hyperlinked, meta-mapped, internet age: Not content to try to find a picture of himself or his house on Google Streetview, he put himself in the picture: made it happen. Involved a camera, quick feet, and a low-speed pursuit of a Google Streetview car-camera in the streets of London. Apparently a little time away from the desk as well. Don't tell his boss.
I'll let him tell (and show) it. From his blog Confessions of a Lab Rat, a post aptly titled The Onlooker:
It's just not cool to simply photograph the Google Street View car any more. And finding yourself on Street View is just so passé.
The trick now is to photograph the Street View car and match it up with the photo it takes of you.
You may remember that last summer I was strolling along Cleveland Street in search of some lunch, when the fabled Google Street car passed me, and looped the block. Indeed, I offered a drink to the first person to spot me.
It looks like I might have to buy myself that drink. Here's a photo I took:
and here is me, about three seconds after taking it:
Check out Google itself for the full picture. If you look to the right you'll see that chap in the white shirt has passed the pale concrete slab, and on the left those two pigeons have taken off in the time between my shot, and the Street View.
Hah. Gotcha, Google.
And you thought Cambridge-trained molecular biologists lived unglamorous lives.
NB: I'm a little unsure Brits use "sneakers" the way Yanks do: syn to tennis/athletic shoes. Don't want Richard to think I'm suggesting he was sneaking around.
