Places features

Google cars have already been seen around Glastonbury and the Mendips, but now they're heading to Taunton and Wellington.

Google street view creates a virtual map of areas which can be viewed online enabling 'virtual tourism' as people can see a 360 degree image of places.

To take the photos, a black car with a six ft pole fitted with a camera on the roof drives through areas taking images which are then uploaded to the web.

Spokesperson Laura Scott said the filming and editing process can take months, so the images being taken now may not be online until next year.

The cameras have already photographed and uploaded images of 25 cities across the UK, including Bristol.

Concerns have been raised over privacy, however Ms Scott said Google takes privacy "very seriously" and that all faces and car registration plates are blurred out.

She also added that if someone was unhappy that their property was online, then they can let Google know so that they can remove the image.

In areas where Street View is available, you can access street-level imagery by zooming into the lowest level on Google Maps, or by dragging the orange 'Pegman icon on the left-hand side of the map onto a blue highlighted street.