Google is to resume its Streetview mapping in towns and cities around Ireland after discussion with data privacy regulators.
The cars, armed with cameras, low-level radar and GPS technology, will take to Irish roads again next week, snapping pictures of public roads.
The images will be used to enhance Google’s mapping service, which includes Google Maps and Google Earth services, with images that give panoramic pictures of city streets. The service is expected to be live here at the end of the year.
Announced last year, Streetview initially took in five Irish cities. However, Google’s website contains a guide to where the Streetview cars are mapping, and areas such as Newbridge, Co Kildare, Carrickmacross in Co Monaghan and Killarney, Co Kerry.
The company caused controversy in May when it revealed it had inadvertently been collecting data sent over wireless networks in Irish homes and businesses in the areas the cars were mapping.
Google took the cars off the road and contacted data protection authorities in the affected countries. The data was deleted and independently verified as having been destroyed.
The cars are now free to carry on capturing images for the 3D mapping service.
“The wifi data collection equipment has been removed from our cars in each country and the independent security experts Stroz Friedberg have approved a protocol to ensure any wifi-related software is also removed from the cars before they start driving again,” a posting on Google’s European Public Policy blog said today.
The company said it would resume the mapping project in Norway, South Africa and Sweden too. The cars will no longer collect wifi information, but capture photos and 3D imagery.
The Streetview service is already up and running in selected cities around the world, including London, Milan and Boston.
However, concerns have been raised by privacy groups and individuals concerned at the level of detail being captured by the cameras.
A Google representative said there are procedures in place to facilitate the removal of images from the service where required.
Individuals’ faces and license plates are blurred from the images.
Google is also planning to add further countries to the Streetview service over time.