If you’re somewhat blind and “directionally” disabled like me, you can probably relate to the pain that is endured when chartering unknown territory around the Lower Mainland and the like. We spend countless minutes printing out illegible maps from the net hoping to find our way to our requested destinations, only to find out that
(a) You are rerouted because of some outlandish reason such as construction, collisions, or road blockage due to by a bunch of die hard “Twilight fans” trying to convince Rob Pattinson or Taylor Lautner to be their lovers… OR
(b) You realized that the guys from mapquest have some sick satisfaction of knowing that users would have to go through the SHADIEST part of town that THE MAP directed them to go through OR
(c) You constantly look like a constipated 70 year old senile man trying to make sense of the illegible street signs when driving…or even walking. Ugh. It can be a real pain sometimes.

In order to alleviate some of our commuting and travelling woes, the Big Gunz at Google have given birth to a special application called “Google Street View.” Users simply type in the desired address on Google Maps, click on the “More” hyperlink, select street view and voila the street view app provides users a visual of what the destination actually looks like.

With that being said, there are a few advantages and disadvantages of this app. Let’s start with the Cons first:

1. They do not show images in “real time” meaning that if there was in fact a barrage of die hard “I <3 EDWARD” tweenz plugging up traffic, you wouldn’t know.

2. There are some areas of the map where you can’t street view at all…so sour grapes if you run into this problem

3. Miss or Mister Facebook creeper and/or your psycho ex gf/bf has new artillery to upgrade their detective like status, to full fledged stalker

Don’t get me wrong though, despite these disadvantages, there are alot of advantages with using this app as well:

1. You can use Street View to look at any available or possible parking areas around the destination. This is especially handy when driving around the Downtown area.

2. Having that photographic memory ingrained into your brain, you can determine your location based on the visual, meaning you no longer have to look like a constipated 70 year old senile man when attempting to read the illegible street signs around Vancouver.

3. It kills time and is amusing

4. Being Miss or Mister Facebook creeper and/or psycho ex gf/bf, you have new artillery to upgrade your detective like status, to full fledged stalker.

Love it or hate it, Google Street View is multi purpose and can be used for many things. Whether it be for ease of directions or shady creeping, it is here to stay.