Estimate How Long Full Street View Coverage of One City Would Take

Choose any city you like. Estimate how long it would take to gather Google Street View imagery covering that entire city. Walk through your reasoning, label each assumption, and arrive at a number. ```hint Turn the city into distance Street View imagery is collected along paths, so the city's size matters only through the length of road and walkway that has to be traveled. Estimate that length first, then think about how quickly it can be covered and what slows coverage down. ``` ### Clarifying Questions - Does "gather the imagery" mean capturing it on the ground, or the full time until it is processed and published on the map? - Should coverage include only streets a car can drive, or also pedestrian areas, parks and stairways that have to be captured on foot? - How many capture vehicles and operators can be assigned to the city at the same time? - Must divided or very wide roads be photographed from both directions? ### What a Strong Answer Covers - A stated interpretation of "how long" and of what counts as covering the whole city. - A clear equation linking road length, repeat driving, capture speed, working hours, usable days and fleet size. - Every input given as a labeled, round-number assumption, including a reasoned way to get road length from the city's size. - Correct arithmetic, a sanity check, and how the answer moves when fleet size or scope changes. - Practical drags such as weather, daylight, traffic, one-way streets, failed segments and post-capture processing. ### Follow-up Questions - How would your estimate change for a sprawling, low-density city with the same population? - If the city's imagery had to be refreshed every year, how many vehicles would you need, and what would you prioritize if you could not afford them? - Which parts of the city would you capture first, and why?