I'm jaywalking in Times Square thanks to Street View from Google

The pic above represents my virtual stroll through New York City, courtesy of Google's new Street View Maps function. Brady Forrest indicates that the new service went live today and employs the services of Immersive Media; they use an eleven-lens high-definition camera while driving the streets to capture just about every angle possible. The service is working for New York City maps, but I'm unsure which other cities already have this unique service.

The interface is typical Google-simple: it uses the traditional Google Maps controls and adds a little stick figure icon that can be dropped on any street outlined in blue. At that point, you get a pop-up picture of the street level view along with clickable arrows to move in various directions or change your viewing angle. You can click, click, click to your hearts content and never get tired or wear out your shoes. Remarkable!