If you don’t like the fact that anyone can open Google Maps, go to Street View then snoop around your yard and view your house. This article will show you how to request to have your house hidden (blurred) from Google Street View. Once done your house will appear as a big blurred out patch like the examples shown in the article. It does take some time to process but it’s worth the effort.
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Related: Google Maps and Apple Maps privacy-focused alternatives.
Google Maps and Google Street View are two of the most useful services in existence at the moment. I’m sure that most of us can agree that trying to navigate modern cities is practically impossible without GPS technology to guide us through the maze of streets, highways, bypasses, detours, traffic, etc. I know I would struggle!
Although these services make the difficult task of finding our way around easier than ever before, there are some privacy issues that some people may have, especially with Google Street View. Street View allows anyone to view just about any street or location as if they were standing in the exact real-world location. Sure some of the content is a little dated but for the most part, things remain the same between updates.
If you aren’t happy that your house is listed on Google Street View for everyone to see whenever they want, it’s now possible to forward a request to Google to have your house hidden (blurred) on Google Maps. The option isn’t advertised openly, so follow along as we guide you through the process.
You can also use this process to have quite a few other things blurred as well, including faces, cars, or other objects that may be concerning to you or others. It’s also possible to report quality problems with images as well. This is handy if your business has been captured poorly, etc.
How do you blur/hide your home on Google Maps Street View?
- To begin, open Google Maps and search for your address or something that will get you nice and close to it.
- Once you are in the correct location, drag and drop the street view icon onto the street where your house is located.
- Now click the three dots in the top right-hand corner of the address box and select Report a problem.
- This will show you a page where you can select the area to be blurred. Simply place the red box over the part of the image you want to be blurred. You can’t adjust its size so do the best you can to fit everything. This won’t always be possible.
- Now simply fill out the form and select My home under the Request blurring option. Finally, complete the capture then click Submit at the bottom of the page.
Once you have submitted the form, you’ll have to wait for Google to review and action your request. How long this takes is entirely random so you might hear back quickly or it may take weeks. As for the result, there isn’t much information regarding the success rate of these forms, though I don’t really see much of a reason for them to deny the request. Obviously, if you are trying to have a landmark or business blurred, you’ll probably have your request denied. If you have had success using this feature, we’d love to hear from you.
