Some of us have used Street View in Google Maps, to productively and inquisitively look at metro street scenes -- or maybe just waste time searching for photos captured by a 360 degree view camera. (I've found the two houses my grandfather built in Rhode Island at the beginning of last century.)

I've never seen one of the "google camera cars" in action, much less sitting still.

So I went on google.com and searched for information about, and images of, the cameras used to make "street view" images.

I learned that initially, in NYC, Google utilized Immersive Media to capture Gotham City's street level action; the Dodeca 2360 11-lens camera (with a MSRP of $45,000) was first used to record over 50,000 miles of steet in over a dozen cities across the U.S.

Now it appears that either Immersive is utilizing different camera systems, or maybe Google has moved onto to different photographic vendors. Who knows, with as much money as Google has, they may have invented their own. Anyway:

Here's my grade school in Drexel Hill, PA:

Here's the house we lived in, in Olivette:

A fellow who bought an item from me on ebay gave me this address in LA: