Map of Google Street View Coverage in Germany and Austria

map of Google Street View Germany and Austria

Both the countries of Germany and Austria had decided in 2010 to not allow Google street view operate in the respective countries. This decision has made for a very unusual map of Germany and Austria. In the map above you can see that the countries all around have squiggly green lines all over them. These are the areas that a Google street view vehicle has managed to record.

One of the reasons that were given for this ban was that Google was recording personal information from wireless networks the vehicles encountered and the respective governments felt this may have been against some statutes.

Austria in 2011 lifted the ban on Google street view with the proviso that only photos are allowed and not video. However google did not venture back into the alpine country until 2017. Progress has been slow and so far only very little of the country has been added to the street view database.