Don’t get Into Trouble Using Google Streetview Images
Read the licencing terms and avoid legal issues
Do you ever want to use Google’s Map, Earth, or Street View images on your stories to demonstrate a place, event, location? Use of Google’s imagery may fall under fair use laws when you’re explicitly covering something shown in the images, but sometimes, fair use can be a grey area and other times, it’s not covered at all. So here are the rules for when you’re unsure.
Google Street View
The rules around Google Street view imagery are strict because they include images of people who have not given their permission to appear in your work. Google explains their policy on Street View images below…
“If you simply need to embed a Street View image or panorama on your website, you don’t need our permission.”
This is because it’s an embed, not a copy, and the nature of an embed is that any modifications they make at their end should also be reflected in the embed shown on your story. However, screenshots are not permitted.
You may not screenshot Street View imagery or remove it from embedded sources for any purpose. This ensures that if Google edits or removes imagery in response to user requests, these changes will be reflected in your project…
