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Alien spymobile menaces Street View

Navteq geographic analysts prowl Blighty

Google had better watch its back, because El Reg has obtained evidence that a powerful rival is about to poke Street View in its all-seeing eye.

Check out the following vehicle, spotted on Monday in Banbury Road, Oxford, by reader Ian Chard. Note the sinister, four-camera spypod atop a big black box which doubtless contains classified data-crunching tech and quite possibly some form of pulsed laser weapon for dealing with obstreperous members of the public:

Navteq vehicle in Oxford

Ian asked: "I haven't heard anything about Navteq doing their own Street View, but maybe this is the start of it?"

Well, our black helicopter investigation bureau got in touch with Navteq, and the company's press department clarified: "Your reader did indeed see one of NAVTEQ’s data collection cars with cameras on the roof. The company has over 1000 geographic analysts who regularly drive the roads and its map database includes around 17 million miles of roads which have been mapped using similar vehicles."

The spokeswoman chillingly concluded: "NAVTEQ is not yet collecting the type of street level data you refer to but does have plans to do so in the future."

So now you know. Be vigilant, and keep watching the skies streets. ®

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