3:38pm Tuesday 9th March 2010
By Daniel Binns
ALMOST every town, village and road in the district will appear on internet virtual map Google Street View from this Thursday (March 11), it has been announced.
Currently only a few small sections of Epping, Thornwood, Loughton, Abridge and Chigwell are covered by the website.
Street View has attracted controversy with concerns over privacy and safety of the people, vehicles and properties captured in the series of photographs which make up the map.
But Google spokeswoman Laura Scott said: "There is absolutely no evidence to suggest that Street View has led to an increase in crime anywhere in the world.
"If people want to have their house removed from the site they can easily do so, and we fully expect people to do that.
"We have also blurred out licence plates and faces of those featured, although of course we may occasionally have missed a few and would encourage anyone to get in contact if this is the case."
It is estimated that around 90 per cent of roads in Essex will be featured in the new version of Street View, although Google says it has no exact statistics for the proportion of areas covered in the county.
The sections of the district currently covered by the website were added in March 2009.
What do you think? Are you pleased or worried about the increased coverage in the Epping Forest District? Contact reporter Daniel Binns on 0779 547 6625 or via email at dbinns@london.newsquest.co.uk
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