Yes people, it’s finally here. UK Street View has arrived. We will update this post as news develops! UK news agencies looking for comment can get in touch via our contact form

Street View has arrived here in the UK at long last, and Google have given us imagery in many parts of Scotland, England, Wales and Northern Ireland. Additionally, Street View is now available in the Netherlands for the first time, and while they were at it, Google has added several new cities in France and Spain!

Coverage is extensive, and covers all of the UK’s major cities. Both of the GSS HQs in Edinburgh and Oxford have coverage, and London has an absolutely staggering number of blue lined streets!

In Edinburgh the images appear to have been taken mainly during the Edinburgh Festival, which explains why there’s lots of odd looking people around.¹ You can see the seating for the Edinburgh Military Tattoo in place on the Castle Esplanade.

Here’s London’s seat of power, Downing Street, showing off their awesome security measures, which has been captured alongside all of the other standard tourist sights like the Houses of Parliament and Big Ben.

In Belfast, it seems that the famous Northern Irish political murals aren’t safe from Google’s face-blurring software!

The Netherlands has also received a large helping of Street View today with coverage of Amsterdam and Rotterdam. Here’s the “Coffee Shop Extase” and Sex Museum:

Other reports are coming in of new Street View imagery in France (including Calais and Le Havre), Spain (including expanded coverage or Barcelona), Northern Italy, and expanded coverage in numerous US states.

Make sure to follow us on Twitter for the latest news, and new Street Views throughout the day.

Google Maps Mania has a good selection of London sights to see, but what else have you found?

Llyn Brianne is a man made reservoir on the River Towy, west Wales, which was formed by the construction of the UK’s tallest dam, which at around 90m tall is the world’s largest clay core dam.

Recently the BBC has uncovered that thrill-seeking kayakers have been sliding down the reservoir’s spillway during times of high water, which probably makes this the world’s largest water slide.

This “dangerous” activity has been banned by Welsh Water but, as this video on the BBC shows, it looks like one hell of a way to spend an afternoon.

At the time these images were taken the spillway was in full flow but apparently, at times of low water, a couple of houses that were submerged to make way for the reservoir can be seen protruding from the surface.

Thanks to VGT and the BBC.

More about the Llyn Brianne Reservoir Spillway at Wikipedia.

Rhoose Point is the southernmost point of mainland Wales. The point is marked by a 4m standing stone monument surrounded by a stone circle.

The stone was erected in 2000 by the company reclaiming the quarry and surrounding land for housing. Some good pictures can be found at this Flickr set.

More mysterious are the several nearby shapes created from rocks, sand and gravel – a compass, a spiral and other assorted designs. Exhaustive research (i.e. trawling through Google while drinking my morning cup of tea) has failed to reveal any information about these features. Are they art? Very ambitious graffiti? Alien communications? Who made them? Can any locals enlighten us?

Thanks to AndrewAnorak.

“Can’t we just go to Ź?” may be the cry of tourists visiting some of these locations with the longest place names in the world.

The north island of New Zealand is home to Taumatawhakatangihangakoauauotamateaturipukakapiki- maungahoronukupokaiwhenuakitanatahu.

Generally called Taumata, the Maori name for this 305m high hill in it’s full form can be translated as The summit where Tamatea, the man with the big knees, the climber of mountains, the land-swallower who travelled about, played his nose flute to his loved one, though there are a number of other forms with different meanings.

In Wales we find the the village of Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch.

Often shortened to Llanfair PG, the name was invented in the 1860s as a means to attract tourists and can be translated as St Mary’s church in the hollow of the white hazel near to the rapid whirlpool and the church of St Tysilio of the red cave. Wikipedia has a helpful guide to pronunciation should you wish to visit.

Massachusetts is home to Lake Chargoggagoggmanchauggagoggchaubunagungamaug.

More commonly called Webster Lake, the name comes from the native Nipmuck language and means fishing place at the boundary, though again there are other forms with different meanings.

While the above are all names with a single word, the Guinness World Record for longest official name gives the title to the city of Bangkok: Krung Thep Mahanakhon Amon Rattanakosin Mahinthara Yuthaya Mahadilok Phop Noppharat Ratchathani Burirom Udomratchaniwet Mahasathan Amon Piman Awatan Sathit Sakkathattiya Witsanukam Prasit.

This translates as The city of angels, the great city, the eternal jewel city, the impregnable city of God Indra, the grand capital of the world endowed with nine precious gems, the happy city, abounding in an enormous Royal Palace that resembles the heavenly abode where reigns the reincarnated god, a city given by Indra and built by Vishnukam. More info at Wikipedia.

Thanks to Shea Marshall and Dave Lartigue.

Roald Dahl Plass in Cardiff, Wales, is named after everyone’s favourite Children’s author Roald Dahl who was born here in the Capital, and the word “plass”, meaning “plaza”, is a nod to his parent’s Norwegian origins.

If you’re a fan of Doctor Who or the Torchwood spin-off, then you’ll immediately recognise this as being the location of a spatio-temporal rift in time¹.

At the north end of the plaza stands a 21m tall water fountain (which hides the entrance to the secret Torchwood underground cave).

The south-east of the Plaza is home to the National Assembly for Wales, the Senedd. We looked for the Senedd before while touring the United Kingdom’s devolved assemblies, but it wasn’t finished then.

At the north-east of the square is the Wales Millennium Centre, a hall for performing arts. The front of the building has an enormous Welsh poem written across its entire face using the medium of windows. You can read the windows in Microsoft’s bird’s eye view imagery.

There’s more information on Roald Dahl Plass and Cardiff Bay on Wikipedia.

Thanks to AndrewAnorak, Jam, braddie, and Andrew Shackson.