Google Street View camera + low bridge = uh-oh
There are any number of amusements to be found on Google Maps, candid images of the world captured by Google's car-mounted cameras, but I couldn't resist passing this one along.
It looks as if southbound on Merchant Street in Pittsburgh, Pa., is a lousy spot to have a camera mounted on a stalk on the roof of your car.
Open the link above and click the forward arrows. You can watch as the car heads toward the low-clearance bridge, then see the view go askew, then see it corrected again, apparently because the camera was remounted correctly.
Or you can watch the drama unfold in the screenshots below.
Google Sightseeing, which collects entertaining Street View moments, also found this case of a Street View car getting stuck in the mud in Australia.
(Via Paul Buchheit.)
Here comes the bridge.
(Credit: screenshot by Stephen Shankland/CNET)
Whack. The camera no longer points forward.
(Credit: screenshot by Stephen Shankland/CNET)
Now the camera flopped backward to show to the car's rear window.
(Credit: screenshot by Stephen Shankland/CNET)
Whew! The camera is restored to its rightful position.
(Credit: screenshot by Stephen Shankland/CNET)
Stephen Shankland writes about a wide range of technology and products, but has a particular focus on browsers and digital photography. He joined CNET News in 1998 and since then also has covered Google, Yahoo, servers, supercomputing, Linux and open-source software, and science. E-mail Stephen, or follow him on Twitter at http://www.twitter.com/stshank. 
- by garngadzooks April 21, 2009 4:45 PM PDT
- Looks like the car used in the UK had a lower camera. It fitted upright under this bridge in Darnick Street, Glasgow, at 8' 6":<br /><br />http://maps.google.co.uk/?ie=UTF8&ll=55.875877,-4.213976&spn=0,359.991717&t=h&z=17&layer=c&cbll=55.875954,-4.214059&panoid=u8icI3thUe5BYZNzjh9K6g&cbp=12,163.90538888106875,,0,5.699481865284975
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