Google StreetView is now active in Bulgaria as of yesterday evening! Just spent a while looking round my area and googling the names of the shops I was afraid to go into! (A bookies and a health insurance places it turns out!!)

Its worth noting that not all streets, and indeed, villages are online as of yet but I'm sure they'll not be long going up. Quote below from google blog announcing the launch alongside the launch of StreetView in Russia.

(For those not sure how to use/access StreetView go to maps.google.com, zoom in and pick up the little orange man and throw him onto road with a blue line running through it. Use the arrows to go back and forward and use the +/- to zoom in/out!)

Quote :

Bulgaria: from the mountains to the beaches
Nestled in the southeastern corner of Europe, Bulgaria is the 48th country for which immersive, street-level imagery is now available on Google Maps. This Bulgarian launch covers not only major economic centers such as Sofia, Plovdiv and Varna, but also historical and beloved towns like Veliko Turnovo and Koprvishtitsa.

Nessebar is an ancient town and one of the most attractive seaside tourist destinations in Bulgaria

Users around the world can also virtually experience the beautiful ski resorts of Borovets, Bansko and Pamporovo, and the stunning Architectural and Museum Reserve Tsarevets that sits on Tsarevets Hill in the old part of of Veliko Tarnovo. And of course, people can check out the Black Sea coast line, which is the heart of summer tourism in the country.

Good post. Thanks for the info!

We discovered this yesterday morning and spent an hour or two checking out our street in town. Very clear images,,even shows me on our balcony watching the camera car travelling down our street because, as luck had it, I was outside having a smoke when I saw it coming. They've done our village main street, but not the side streets. Very interesting stuff.

I have kept looking for when this was online, I suppose they are putting the main roads online first and then adding the little ones at a later date, I can zoom in from about 50 foot away on my house, the pictures on are from February and March last year, they were filming in our village later in the summer on the smaller roads, none of the smaller ones are on yet just the main road round the village and one to the center

Ive just been having great fun looking what shops are where and what goes were in the local town Maglizh, going between villages down the bigger back roads that are mapped, finding the best routes out of Maglizh without having to get stuck on a bumpy road the car cant handle

When they went past the house last year they picked a good day, it was just after I had fixed the rendering and then painted it bright white the day before , its not online though

I can see most of my village but can't get close enough to my house, I'm hoping that they will be adding more later as in most villages there are quite a lot of undeveloped roads which most would think are only dirt tracks

I wonder how many property sellers will try to hide the exact location of a house even more so the buyer doesnt get scared of the area after looking around on google street view

Some people think they are buying somewhere like the spanish tourist resorts for some reason and are quite worried when they see the area ( and many never return ) when they go to Bulgaria and see things like the donkeys, chickens, goats and people sleeping on the side of roads in the middle of the day in the summer when its too hot to work ,

To some people things like cracked rendering in the village worry them to a point of rage and aranging meetings to formulate action plans is what they do best....

These type of people wouldnt buy in Bulgaria if they looked around first and I think that may be a good thing, everyone should give a link to a village streetview if someone asks what its like!

will666 wrote:

I wonder how many property sellers will try to hide the exact location of a house even more so the buyer doesnt get scared of the area after looking around on google street view

Some people think they are buying somewhere like the spanish tourist resorts for some reason and are quite worried when they see the area ( and many never return ) when they go to Bulgaria and see things like the donkeys, chickens, goats and people sleeping on the side of roads in the middle of the day in the summer when its too hot to work ,

To some people things like cracked rendering in the village worry them to a point of rage and aranging meetings to formulate action plans is what they do best....

These type of people wouldnt buy in Bulgaria if they looked around first and I think that may be a good thing, everyone should give a link to a village streetview if someone asks what its like!

I couldn't agree with you more at least it might stop some of them coming over here with rose colored specs on, and they certainly won't have any excuses for saying 'I didn't know what it was like'

I'd imagine what will happen now with the estate agents will be that they will have a house for sale in a village that doesn't look great on streetview, so they will describe the house as "
near"
a village that is more photogenic.

The thing is, I know in my town a lot of the images were taken in February 2012- but since then there has been quite a few improvements round the place including new footpaths &
a new park. And from March - November the town centre comes alive with flowers, so it might not necessarily give a true reflection of what the town is like today.

Bigneacy wrote:

I'd imagine what will happen now with the estate agents will be that they will have a house for sale in a village that doesn't look great on streetview, so they will describe the house as "
near"
a village that is more photogenic.

I'll be delighted if any agents want to show potential clients for our house Kotel ... I just had a 'walk around' the town on Street View and it looked great. Nice summers day, plenty of folks wandering round in t-shorts, the bars are full ... and (although you can't make out my house), the entrance to the old town and all the museums look really nice!

i must be doing something wrong I copied and pasted StreetView go to maps.google.com and have to download and sign up anyone got the link please

oddball wrote:

i must be doing something wrong I copied and pasted StreetView go to maps.google.com and have to download and sign up

Hi Berni

First off all, go to:
[url:3ukp1qux]https:
//maps.
google.
com[/url:3ukp1qux]
Then, type in what you're looking for, for example:

[You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]

Then hit 'return' and your map will be displayed.

Next, drag the little orange man onto one of the streets on the map:

[You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]

Which will then put you into street view:

[You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]

Give me a shout if you get stuck!

oddball wrote:

i must be doing something wrong I copied and pasted StreetView go to maps.google.com and have to download and sign up anyone got the link please

[url:2zpjoc3g]http:
//maps.
google.
com/maps/ms?ie=UTF8&
oe=UTF8&
msa=0&
msid=102840761195947461327.
000477a00401d703e193b[/url:2zpjoc3g]

Wow!!! Chris yes, I found it all now and had a walked round the area too - Roads are as bad as ever could only get to see the the back of our villa through the trees as no road going down there. Snow everywhere so certainly would not like to tbe there in winter

It's not so good in USA see link [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]