Google’s Street View Batcave
For just one frame of Google’s Street View for Charleston Road in Mountain View, we are given a completely unprecedented and unique glimpse inside the operation, as the camera is switched on inside the Street View Batcave.
Just like Batman’s underground lair, this warehouse appears to be the base for the whole operation. Panning around, you’ll find the dimly lit room1 is filled in every direction with dozens and dozens of fully loaded camera cars, some featuring the older camera-only mounts, and others with the newer 3D laser mounts.
Other than the camera cars, there are several other fascinating things to see here, including this setup up of 9 LCD monitors mounted around a couple of old car seats, which would act like a 3D VR room. Is this for checking cameras? Reviewing recorded material? Or live monitoring of the drivers’ progress?
Also of note around the garage are some support vans, lots of bits of computer junk and, in an image captured immediately outside the building, several mysterious black vehicles.
Thanks to VGT.
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So dark that I’ve raised the brightness on these thumbnails to make them clearer. ↩
I wonder if those black buses are the buses that Google uses as a free shuttle service for its employees
Yes, Bauer’s is a private bus company, and these are shuttles for Googlers.
Google has now removed the image, unfortunately.
Which means that what we saw in the garage must be top-secret! GSS exposed Google’s plans to dominate the world!
James, perhaps you should expect a visit from some Google security agents…
so….any idea why they removed this particular image?
Shh…. Google doesn’t want the general public to know that if the pictures don’t exist then the place doesn’t exist either.
Remember… keep it secret… keep it safe…
This is one of the cooler things i’ve seen on street view!
Good catch …
Uhhh did someone archive this at least? Plz2link