To use or not to use proprietary street view images in (health and place) research? That is the question

M Helbich; M Danish; SM Labib; B Ricker

doi:10.1016/j.healthplace.2024.103244

To use or not to use proprietary street view images in (health and place) research? That is the question

M Helbich^*
, M Danish
, SM Labib
, B Ricker

^*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › Academic › peer-review

Abstract

Computer vision-based analysis of street view imagery has transformative impacts on environmental assessments. Interactive web services, particularly Google Street View, play an ever-important role in making imagery data ubiquitous. Despite the technical ease of harnessing millions of Google Street View images, this article questions the current practices in using this proprietary data source from a European viewpoint. Our concern lies with Google's terms of service, which restrict bulk image downloads and the generation of street view image-based indices. To reconcile the challenge of advancing society through groundbreaking research while maintaining data license agreements and legal integrity, we believe it is crucial to 1) include an author's statement on using proprietary street view data and the directives it entails, 2) negotiate academic-specific license to democratize Google Street View data access, and 3) adhere to open data principles and utilize open image sources for future research.

Original language	English
Article number	103244
Number of pages	4
Journal	Health and Place
Volume	87
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1016/j.healthplace.2024.103244
Publication status	Published - May 2024

Bibliographical note

Publisher Copyright:
© 2024 The Author(s)

Funding

In brief, the Google Maps Platform Terms of Service ( Google 2024a,b) outlines in \u00A73.2.3 (Restrictions Against Misusing the Services) that, first, \u201Ccustomer will not export, extract, or otherwise scrape Google Maps Content\u201D, and will not \u201Cpre-fetch, index, store, reshare, or rehost\u201D or \u201Cbulk download [\u2026] Street View images\u201D. Second, it states that customers \u201Cwill not create content based on Google Maps Content\u201D; particularly emphasized is that customers are not allowed to \u2018\u2019construct an index of tree locations within a city from Street View imagery\u201D. Finally, and most important, the Geo Guidelines (Google 2024b) also indicate that academic use is no exception (\u201C\u2026 restrictions apply to all academic, nonprofit, and commercial projects\u201D) and that no exceptions are granted. Although these conditions apply to the vast majority of studies, the possibility of additional contracts with Google exists, providing specific exceptions to these general terms of service. However, we do not consider those because they require special negotiations that would exclude most academic researchers.Therefore, even with the exemptions granted under legislation enacted to fulfill Article 3, it remains questionable whether proprietary street view images from Google are available for research purposes. Even if they prevail, the possibility of legal action has a chilling effect on the accessibility and reusability of the data. To date, there has been no jurisprudence on any of the legislation enacted under Article 3. Until a judge issues a ruling based on a comparable case, preferably at the EU-level so the precedent has EU-wide applicability, the use of Google Street View images carries the potential risk of legal action against researchers. In the longer term, a solution such as that proposed by Koll\u00E1r (2021), using ideas from Japanese copyright law, could provide the desired legal certainty for researchers to work soundly using proprietary street view imagery; however, that kind of regulatory change does not appear to be coming forth in the foreseeable future.This work received funding from the Faculty of Geosciences, Utrecht University (BMD 3.1fb220215). This work received funding from the Faculty of Geosciences, Utrecht University (BMD 3.1fb220215).

Funders	Funder number
Google Maps Platform Terms of Service
Google
Faculty of Geosciences, Utrecht University	BMD 3.1fb220215

Keywords

Environmental assessment
Google
Health geography
Street view images
Streetscape data
Terms of use

Access to Document

10.1016/j.healthplace.2024.103244Licence: CC BY

1-s2.0-S1353829224000728-mainFinal published version, 364 KBLicence: CC BY

Cite this

@article{4bc44f3e8a464099964eaedc90d49171,

title = "To use or not to use proprietary street view images in (health and place) research? That is the question",

abstract = "Computer vision-based analysis of street view imagery has transformative impacts on environmental assessments. Interactive web services, particularly Google Street View, play an ever-important role in making imagery data ubiquitous. Despite the technical ease of harnessing millions of Google Street View images, this article questions the current practices in using this proprietary data source from a European viewpoint. Our concern lies with Google's terms of service, which restrict bulk image downloads and the generation of street view image-based indices. To reconcile the challenge of advancing society through groundbreaking research while maintaining data license agreements and legal integrity, we believe it is crucial to 1) include an author's statement on using proprietary street view data and the directives it entails, 2) negotiate academic-specific license to democratize Google Street View data access, and 3) adhere to open data principles and utilize open image sources for future research.",

keywords = "Environmental assessment, Google, Health geography, Street view images, Streetscape data, Terms of use",

author = "M Helbich and M Danish and SM Labib and B Ricker",

note = "Publisher Copyright: {\textcopyright} 2024 The Author(s)",

year = "2024",

month = may,

doi = "10.1016/j.healthplace.2024.103244",

language = "English",

volume = "87",

journal = "Health and Place",

issn = "1353-8292",

publisher = "Elsevier Ltd",

}

TY - JOUR

T1 - To use or not to use proprietary street view images in (health and place) research? That is the question

AU - Helbich, M

AU - Danish, M

AU - Labib, SM

AU - Ricker, B

PY - 2024/5

Y1 - 2024/5

N2 - Computer vision-based analysis of street view imagery has transformative impacts on environmental assessments. Interactive web services, particularly Google Street View, play an ever-important role in making imagery data ubiquitous. Despite the technical ease of harnessing millions of Google Street View images, this article questions the current practices in using this proprietary data source from a European viewpoint. Our concern lies with Google's terms of service, which restrict bulk image downloads and the generation of street view image-based indices. To reconcile the challenge of advancing society through groundbreaking research while maintaining data license agreements and legal integrity, we believe it is crucial to 1) include an author's statement on using proprietary street view data and the directives it entails, 2) negotiate academic-specific license to democratize Google Street View data access, and 3) adhere to open data principles and utilize open image sources for future research.

AB - Computer vision-based analysis of street view imagery has transformative impacts on environmental assessments. Interactive web services, particularly Google Street View, play an ever-important role in making imagery data ubiquitous. Despite the technical ease of harnessing millions of Google Street View images, this article questions the current practices in using this proprietary data source from a European viewpoint. Our concern lies with Google's terms of service, which restrict bulk image downloads and the generation of street view image-based indices. To reconcile the challenge of advancing society through groundbreaking research while maintaining data license agreements and legal integrity, we believe it is crucial to 1) include an author's statement on using proprietary street view data and the directives it entails, 2) negotiate academic-specific license to democratize Google Street View data access, and 3) adhere to open data principles and utilize open image sources for future research.

KW - Environmental assessment

KW - Google

KW - Health geography

KW - Street view images

KW - Streetscape data

KW - Terms of use

UR - https://www.scopus.com/pages/publications/85189979537

U2 - 10.1016/j.healthplace.2024.103244

DO - 10.1016/j.healthplace.2024.103244

M3 - Article

SN - 1353-8292

VL - 87

JO - Health and Place

JF - Health and Place

M1 - 103244

ER -

To use or not to use proprietary street view images in (health and place) research? That is the question

Abstract

Bibliographical note

Funding

Keywords

Access to Document

Other files and links

Fingerprint

Cite this