As an inexperienced and anxious driver (from a tiny suburban / village area / town), Street View (and its alternatives) are god sent to me.

I up front plan my trip, every twist and turn, especially in densely populated areas. I'm not used to driving in dense urban environments with multi-lane streets, so knowing what's gonna happen, when, and how it's going to look is immensely important to me to keep my anxiety under control.

I never thought of doing that, that's a great idea

I hope they also permit restoring addresses to street view as well. Apparently it's permanently removed in the US which is a bane for some who are trying to sell their house or have bought a house that was blurred and want it shown.

https://support.google.com/maps/thread/5010142/i-want-to-unb...

It's a bit of a chilling effect for people who want to blur their house and not affect its value and could even be used nefariously.

Where's the loss?

Also, what if my neighbor removes my apartment building, but I want it to be on street view?

From the article

  Like in other countries, it will be possible to opt out of Street View coverage with the option to pixelate your home or business. Google is starting with a blank slate, so anyone who obfuscated their house a decade ago will have to request it once more.

Of course that's possible, if only to calm the nerves of the public (I don't think there is a legal obligation). However, hardly anyone requested it for Apple's equivalent product.

Apple already has recent street view of Germany and nobody cared.

The objection comes from the nature of Google as a data vaccuming company with loose ethics.

Do you mean that thing that blurs a specific building? I’ve always thought that was a great example of the Streisand effect. It’s not like someone can’t walk/drive there and see it anyway.

The point of not wanting photos of you or your house spread around the internet isn't to make it physically impossible to see you, but to restrict that privilege to the people you actually (want to) physically interact with.

I wonder how it works with condos and other places where multiple unrelated people live. I assume privacy wins and if one neighbour wants it blurred then it will be blurred even if others would prefer it visible.

It mentions in the article they will.