Estimate the Cost of Recapturing Google Street View Imagery for San Francisco

Google's Street View data for San Francisco has been lost. Estimate what it would cost to replace it. Treat this as an estimation exercise: define what "replace" covers, build an equation, state each assumption with round numbers, carry the arithmetic through, and sanity-check the result. ```hint Break the cost into stages Imagery does not reach the map in one step. Follow a street from the moment it is photographed to the moment it is published, and estimate each stage on its own. ``` ### Clarifying Questions - Does "the data" mean only the street-level imagery, or also everything derived from it, such as extracted street signs, addresses and business details? - Are the capture vehicles, camera systems and processing pipeline intact, so only the data itself is gone, and is there any backup or older copy? - Should the estimate include imagery not taken from a car, such as park paths, piers, building interiors and photos contributed by users? - Is the cost limited to direct replacement spending, or should it include the impact on users and the business while the imagery is missing? ### What a Strong Answer Covers - A clear scope and a simple cost equation broken into capture, processing, review and oversight. - Labeled round-number assumptions for the size of the street network, capture speed, crew and equipment cost, and processing. - Correct arithmetic carried through to a single estimate and a plausible range. - A sanity check from a second angle, such as cost per mile or scaling up to a larger region. - Recognition of what cannot be replaced at any price. ### Follow-up Questions - Which single assumption moves your total the most, and how would you get a better number for it? - How would the estimate change if the replacement had to be finished within one week? - Suppose the loss came from a storage failure. How would you weigh paying for stronger backups against the replacement cost you just estimated?