Google Street View in Israel

Google Car in Jerusalem

Google Street View began in Israel in April 2012. Israel is the first country in the Middle East to see Street View. First, on April 3, the interior of the Israel Museum was introduced. Then on April 19, three days ahead of the planned formal launch, the country's three largest cites, Jerusalem, Tel Aviv, and Haifa, along with a number of other landmarks, came public.

Background

Israeli officials authorized Street View after three months of negotiations to define conditions to protect privacy.

Filming of Street View in Israel began in September 2011. This included the use of tricycles to film areas of the Old City and other paths not accessible by motor vehicle.

Places found

Full cities

• Haifa
• Jerusalem
• Tel Aviv

Landmarks

• Ben-Gurion University of the Negev
• Israel Museum
• Jerusalem Biblical Zoo
• Kafr Kanna
• Merhavia Moshav
• Mini Israel
• Nahsholim
• Ramat Gan Safari

Issues

There was much controversy surrounding bringing Street View to Israel. The main one was the fear that terrorists could use the feature to plan attacks. Palestinian militants have previously admitted to using Google Maps to help plan attacks.

The Israeli government has permitted Street View to be in the country provided the following conditions have been met:

• Allowing any court cases related to Street View to take place in Israeli courts
• Google will not challenge Israeli law
• Google provides a method for users to request images be blurred or removed
• Google must inform the public in advance of its planned routes.
• Images would not reveal license plate numbers or home addresses and would obscure the faces of people on streets

A public poll found that 70% of Israelis support Street View.

Google Israel CEO Meir Brand stated that the areas that the filming was not politically motivated, the areas that would be photographed would be accessible to the public, and that there would be sensitivity to cultural and security needs.