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Google released Street View imagery of Japan and Australia on 5 August. A user can select a point on a road, and then view the scene in any direction. The imagery was derived from a 360 degree camera system.

The coverage of Japan is limited to the Tokyo-Yokahama-Chiba metropolis and Osaka on Honshu, and to Sendai, Sapporo and Hakodate on Hokkaido.

Coverage in Australia is the most complete of any country. It covers all the cities and much of the sparsely populated interior. Street View was introduced into five US cities in May. It is also available along the Tour de France route.

Google has not announced any plans for coverage in other countries in the region. However, it is facing legal challenges in Canada and the UK, because of privacy concerns, and may raise issues among security authorities in other countries.

Go to maps.google.com and press the Street View tag.

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