![Google Street View Car in Chinatown, Toronto](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/12/Google_Street_View_Car_in_Chinatown%2C_Toronto.jpg)
In Canada,
Google Street View
Google Street View is a technology featured in Google Maps and Google Earth that provides interactive panoramas from positions along many streets in the world. It was launched in 2007 in several cities in the United States, and has since expan ...
is available on streets, roads, and highways in most parts of the country, with coverage in all provinces and territories. The feature is also provided in
Whistler Blackcomb Resort, the location of the
2010 Winter Olympics
)''
, nations = 82
, athletes = 2,626
, events = 86 in 7 sports (15 disciplines)
, opening = February 12, 2010
, closing = February 28, 2010
, opened_by = Governor General Michaëlle Jean
, cauldron = Catriona Le May DoanNancy GreeneWayne Gret ...
.
Background
Introduction
Street View in Canada began on October 7, 2009. On this day, Street View was made available for several large Canadian cities, as well as
Banff National Park and
Whistler, British Columbia
Whistler ( Lillooet/Ucwalmícwts: Cwitima, ; Squamish/Sḵwx̱wú7mesh: Sḵwiḵw, ) is a resort municipality in Squamish-Lillooet Regional District, British Columbia, Canada. It is located in the southern Pacific Ranges of the Coast Moun ...
(one of the sites from the
2010 Winter Olympics
)''
, nations = 82
, athletes = 2,626
, events = 86 in 7 sports (15 disciplines)
, opening = February 12, 2010
, closing = February 28, 2010
, opened_by = Governor General Michaëlle Jean
, cauldron = Catriona Le May DoanNancy GreeneWayne Gret ...
).
This was after long anticipation of the feature in the country. Street View cars had been spotted as early as 2007.
On December 2, 2009, nine more Canadian cities were added, from east to west
St. John's,
Sherbrooke
Sherbrooke ( ; ) is a city in southern Quebec, Canada. It is at the confluence of the Saint-François and Magog rivers in the heart of the Estrie administrative region. Sherbrooke is also the name of a territory equivalent to a regional cou ...
,
Sudbury,
London
London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...
,
Winnipeg
Winnipeg () is the capital and largest city of the province of Manitoba in Canada. It is centred on the confluence of the Red and Assiniboine rivers, near the longitudinal centre of North America. , Winnipeg had a city population of 749, ...
,
Saskatoon
Saskatoon () is the largest city in the Canadian province of Saskatchewan. It straddles a bend in the South Saskatchewan River in the central region of the province. It is located along the Trans-Canada Yellowhead Highway, and has served as th ...
,
Edmonton
Edmonton ( ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Alberta. Edmonton is situated on the North Saskatchewan River and is the centre of the Edmonton Metropolitan Region, which is surrounded by Alberta's central region. The city ancho ...
, and
Victoria
Victoria most commonly refers to:
* Victoria (Australia), a state of the Commonwealth of Australia
* Victoria, British Columbia, provincial capital of British Columbia, Canada
* Victoria (mythology), Roman goddess of Victory
* Victoria, Seychelle ...
.
On February 10, 2010, many more areas of Canada (barring extremely northern and rural areas) were added.
Of note, ski runs on
Whistler Blackcomb Resort is also covered in this update.
As of 2013, the northernmost community imaged is the Arctic island community of
Cambridge Bay,
Nunavut. As of April 2014, the only Canadian urban areas whose images have not been uploaded are the urban areas within the
Labrador
, nickname = "The Big Land"
, etymology =
, subdivision_type = Country
, subdivision_name = Canada
, subdivision_type1 = Province
, subdivision_name1 ...
region of
Newfoundland and Labrador
Newfoundland and Labrador (; french: Terre-Neuve-et-Labrador; frequently abbreviated as NL) is the easternmost provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada, in the country's Atlantic Canada, Atlantic region. The province comprises t ...
.
On October 10, 2012, street view images in many parts of Canada were updated and some new images of parks, trails, university campuses, and zoos were added.
![Google Street View trike side](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/3c/Google_Street_View_trike_side.JPG)
On March 19, 2013, the Nunavut city of
Iqaluit
Iqaluit ( ; , ; ) is the capital of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian territory of Nunavut, its largest community, and its only city. It was known as Frobisher Bay from 1942 to 1987, after the Frobisher Bay, large bay on the c ...
was imaged. Rather than shipping a car or using a trike, the city was imaged using backpack-mounted cameras for three days. One of the people involved, Chris Kalluk, was responsible for Google mapping Cambridge Bay, his home town. Iqaluit officially appeared on Street View on July 9, 2013, coinciding with
Nunavut Day
Nunavut Day ( iu, ᓄᓇᕗᑦ ᐅᓪᓗᖓ) is a public holiday in the Canadian territory of Nunavut.
Origin
On July 9, 1993, following the passing of the 1982 plebiscite on the question of the division of the Northwest Territories, the Parli ...
.
With the inclusion of Iqaluit, all provincial/territorial capitals have been imaged and are available on Street View.
In 2013,
Parks Canada began a 2-year collaboration with Google to provide street view images of the most iconic parks and heritage places in Canada.
In November 2013, the first set of images were released.
In 2014, Street View imagery of
Fort McMurray
Fort McMurray ( ) is an urban service area in the Regional Municipality of Wood Buffalo in Alberta, Canada. It is located in northeast Alberta, in the middle of the Athabasca oil sands, surrounded by boreal forest. It has played a significan ...
was uploaded. The northern
Alberta
Alberta ( ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada. It is part of Western Canada and is one of the three prairie provinces. Alberta is bordered by British Columbia to the west, Saskatchewan to the east, the Northwest Ter ...
city was the last remaining major Canadian urban area to be imaged.
In 2016, Street View imagery of various roads in
Nain were uploaded. The only communities in
Labrador
, nickname = "The Big Land"
, etymology =
, subdivision_type = Country
, subdivision_name = Canada
, subdivision_type1 = Province
, subdivision_name1 ...
with street view images are
Red Bay,
Churchill Falls
Churchill Falls is a high waterfall on the Churchill River in Labrador, Canada. Formerly counted among the most impressive natural features of Canada, the diversion of the river for the Churchill Falls Generating Station has cut off almo ...
,
Happy Valley-Goose Bay
Happy Valley-Goose Bay (Inuit: ''Vâli'') is a town in the province of Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada.
Located in the central part of Labrador on the coast of Lake Melville and the Churchill River, Happy Valley-Goose Bay is the largest popul ...
, and
Nain.
Concerns over legality
Canada was one of the first countries following the introduction in the United States where the prospect of introducing Street View was known to the public. In 2007, following the debut of
Street View in the United States, concern was brought up that the same in Canada may not be legal. Canada's laws regarding privacy differ from those of the United States. Images of the streets in Canada were taken early on by
Immersive Media Company, the contractor used by Google at the time that took most of the early images. But it would be a long time before Street View would be seen in Canada, and Street View in several other countries would predate that of Canada.
Canada's Federal
Privacy Commissioner,
Jennifer Stoddart
Jennifer Stoddart (born 1949) was the sixth Privacy Commissioner of Canada.
Early life and education
Stoddart was born in 1949 in Toronto. In 1967 she graduated from Neuchâtel Junior College in Switzerland. Fluent in five languages, she studied ...
, warned Google and Immersive Media that Street View violated the country's
Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act (PIPEDA), which prohibits commercial use of personal data without the individual's
consent
Consent occurs when one person voluntarily agrees to the proposal or desires of another. It is a term of common speech, with specific definitions as used in such fields as the law, medicine, research, and sexual relationships. Consent as und ...
.
[
Google responded by agreeing to respect privacy laws in Canada and other countries.
Ultimately, Google agreed to blur faces and license plates that appeared in images taken. Google has since done the same in other countries, including the United States, regardless of whether or not it is legally compelled to do so.
]
Timeline of introductions
Note: Below locations available in a newer high-quality view, except ''italic'' indicates locations partially available in the high-quality view. Almost all of Canada can be seen in a high-quality street view.
Areas included
Privacy concerns
While Canada, like other jurisdictions, has raised the issue of privacy concerns regarding Google Street View, the presence of Google cameras in one Canadian city in March 2009 gave rise to a different complaint. Les MacPherson, a columnist with The StarPhoenix
''The StarPhoenix'' is a daily newspaper that serves Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada, and is a part of Postmedia Network. The ''StarPhoenix'' puts out six editions each week and publishes one weekly, ''Bridges''. It is also part of the canada.com ...
in Saskatoon
Saskatoon () is the largest city in the Canadian province of Saskatchewan. It straddles a bend in the South Saskatchewan River in the central region of the province. It is located along the Trans-Canada Yellowhead Highway, and has served as th ...
, complained in a March 28, 2009, column that the timing of the imaging, at the end of a protracted winter season and before the true onset of spring would cast an unfavourable image of Saskatoon and other cities. "What worries me more than any loss of privacy is the prospect of presenting to the world a highly unflattering impression of Canadian cities. With the possible exception of Victoria
Victoria most commonly refers to:
* Victoria (Australia), a state of the Commonwealth of Australia
* Victoria, British Columbia, provincial capital of British Columbia, Canada
* Victoria (mythology), Roman goddess of Victory
* Victoria, Seychelle ...
, they do not show off well in the spring. Google could not have picked a more inauspicious time to do its scanning. Saskatoon is unfortunately typical. For Google to record its images of the city at this most visually unappealing time of year is like photographing a beautiful woman who has just awakened from a six-month coma," he wrote. In early October 2009, the first Canadian cities began to appear on Street View; several, including Saskatoon, were not included in the initial roll-out. One city that was included, Calgary, included images taken in both summer and winter. Images of Saskatoon were rolled out on December 2, 2009.
In October 2010, Stoddart said that Google violated the privacy of thousands of Canadians when the cars inadvertently collected personal data about them while filming Street View in the country. Google apologized for the breach.
References
{{Google Maps navbox
Canada
Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...
Computer-related introductions in 2009
Maps of Canada
Geography of Canada
Communications in Canada