Google Street View cars have now covered 65% of the roads in the UK, as well as 39 countries.
The BBC reported this week how this 3D map service is now changing the way we live our lives.
It used the example of John Haas, a lecturer from Northwestern University in Illinois, who uses it to check out where he is going to stay when on business trips, whether there are restaurants and cafes nearby and how easily he can walk to local attractions.
He said: “I look at Street View first to see where I’m going, what’s around me.”
He added: “If I’m going to a friend’s house for a dinner party I check whether there’s parking on the street, so I know if I’m driving, or if I can take a cab.”
The report said tradesmen also use it to look at properties online and talk to customers about work that needs doing without having to visit.
Curt Parks and partner Denise also explained how they used Street View to cut down the amount of houses they went to see when looking to buy.
They could check out the look of the street and nearby area and discount any they weren’t impressed with, without leaving their own home.
Curt explained: “We were looking at one that looked lovely. You go into Street View and you realise that it’s on a main road and at the end of a grotty row of houses.
“Without it I think we would have been driving round, area to area.
“We’re saving weekends. The last thing I want to do is spend our time traipsing round.”
Personally, the novelty of looking at my own street has definitely worn off now, but I hate driving places when I don’t know if I am going to be able to park, so I love using it for that.