Many of those who make use of startrescue.co.uk’s UK and European breakdown cover will have harnessed Google’s Street View service in order to find a location. In case you’re still using old-fashioned printed maps to find your way around, Street View is a three-dimensional representation of our streets and roads, and be can used to pinpoint addresses and other locations.
But the task of mapping the UK’s streets – by using a car with a special camera on the roof – has not been easy for Google. No one can be identified on the system, which means every face has had to be blurred. But Street View is open to other problems too – such as people pretending to act out murders!
This particular issue arose after two Edinburgh mechanics spotted the Google camera car nearby. One lay on the ground, face down, while the other brandished a pick axe over the ‘fallen’ body.
The pair forgot about the ‘joke’, which occurred in August 2012, until they received a visit from the local constabulary a year later. A web user had spotted the ‘heinous crime’ and reported it.
Dan Thompson, 56, was one of the mechanics and the owner of the garage in question. He told the BBC Scotland news website: “By complete fluke I saw the Google car coming along the road but it had to loop the block so I had time to rush back inside the garage and set up the murder scene.”
“There are pictures on Google of men flashing their bums but we thought we would be more classy.”
Mr Thompson apologised for wasting police time, and said the officers found the incident “funny”.
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