Google Launches Street View Of Japanese Tsunami Devastation

Google has launched a new Street View tour that takes you through the Japanese areas that were devastated by the tsunami and earthquakes earlier this year. The tsunami virtually destroyed the areas in March. Google had promised previously to put up Street View images of the devastated areas for people to view.

Google notes that its Street View vehicles drove more than 44,000 kilometers though the areas that were affected by the tsunami and has posted the are in 360-degree panorama. Google is also offering the images via a special page called Building the Memory where you can see before and after photos of the area in one place.

The new photos are also time stamped and Google notes that the time stamp feature with the month and year is now available on all images, not only those of the devastated areas of Japan. Google says that the imagery is hoped to help people including scientists better understand how disasters such as this affect communities. Do you think this is in poor taste?