Google's Street View Launches in the U.K., the Netherlands

Is it time to start a pool on how long it takes for the first privacy lawsuit against Google to be filed in the U.K.? Why? Because Google's Street View has launched in 25 cities.

Street View is a feature of Google Maps and Google Earth, and provides a 360° horizontal and 290° ground level view.

Here is the list of U.K. cities covered by the new U.K. Street View service: London, Edinburgh, Leeds, Bradford, Cambridge, Cardiff, Belfast, Birmingham, Manchester, Liverpool, Oxford, Sheffield, Nottingham, Derby, Bristol, Coventry, Glasgow, Aberdeen, Swansea, York, Newcastle, Dundee, Southampton, Norwich and Scunthorpe.

Also launching on Thursday was a version in The Netherlands; the number of countries covered is now nine.

Street View was already in other parts of Europe (France, Italy, Spain) as well as Japan, Australia and New Zealand.

Google's Street View launched in 2007, and has been the source of privacy concerns and lawsuits. It's even been banned from entering some townships. It's also been banned from U.S. military bases, and been the source of both humor and angst.

But it's also been used to foil a kidnapping.

Additionally, Google will remove images from the service if requested (see that little "Report a Concern link in the embedded map above?).

So, as it continues to roll out, what do you readers think? Cool toy, useful navigation tool, or privacy risk?