So I gave Google Street View in Brazil a try today and retraced my old stomping grounds in Rio. I have to admit, it was pretty cool to click around Botafogo and see the streets I used to walk on everyday. The one thing I would change? Ok, so there’s two things. One is the glitches that happen when you click around and the screen alternates between Street View and a wider city view without you wanting to do that. The second thing, the fact that the places I “visited” in Rio where labeled a landfill (depósito de lixo or lixão in Portuguese). Click on the photo to amplify and see another example here. What I think happened was that the word “aterro” (land reclamation) as in Aterro do Flamengo (the land area on the bay from the airport to Botafogo) was translated instead of being left alone and then they applied that to all of Rio.

Resumo: Por algum motivo, o Google Street View diz que o Brasil é um “lixão” (landfill, em inglês). Bem, pelo menos no Rio de Janeiro.

Oh, and for those of you who want to see what their cameras caught people doing? There’s already a few sites for that!