The Invisible Street View Car

Wednesday, 11th June 2008 by

Prior to the recent Street View update you could pan down on the street view images to see the car which carried the 360° cameras around the cities.

However, the most recent update somehow manages to make the car disappear, so that you can see the road below.

We presumed this was a simple processing effect that blends the images from either end of the car, but it is in fact wearing an invisible cloak.

The give-away was in the invisible car's shadow, where you'll notice the ruffles of the cloak skimming the ground. Are Google licensing technology from Harry Potter now?

Thanks: Zoe Lozada