Google’s Street View goes live in Israel, first-ever for Middle Eastern countries

Élyse Betters | Apr 20 2012 - 7:54 am PT

Google plans to launch its Street View mapping service in Israel on April 22, but the project is apparently already online.

According to Dutch blog Websonic (translated), Street View images are live in the capital city of Jerusalem, as well as in Haifa, Tel Aviv, Merhavia, Kfar Kama, Nahsholim, and Beersheba. The Street View above is of the Wailing Wall in Jerusalem, also known as the Western Wall, which is one of the city’s most popular and sacred tourist spots.

For those who live under a rock: Google Street View is a service highlighted in Google Maps and Google Earth that offers panoramic views of streets. It launched in 2007 in the United States and has expanded to many cities and rural areas worldwide. Street View in Israel is significant, because it is the first time Google has published street imagery online from any Middle Eastern country.

An image gallery is below.

The Israeli government allowed Google to start the Street View project last August under four conditions: Israel is allowed to start any civil legal actions against Google inside Israel, Google must abide by Israel’s Law on technology, the public must have access to extra blurring of images published online, and Google must use online and offline methods to inform the public about its service.

Globes, Israel’s business arena, gives a full breakdown of the conditions.

In related news, Google also launched spectacular Street View imagery last month for the Amazon. The project’s lead Karin Tuxen-Bettman took to the official Google Lat Long blog to post stunning video and images—check out the video below:

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=3Q8nIHDxfp0]