Street View here?

Google is expected to launch the New Zealand version of its Street View mapping application tomorrow.

The free software lets Internet users take a virtual "walk" down city streets and view photos of the scene from any angle on their computer screens.

Street View has encountered opposition in Europe and North America, because pedestrians and vehicles can be made out in some pictures.

Following talks with the New Zealand privacy commissioner, Google agreed to blur any faces and licence plates caught on its cameras in New Zealand and to set up a procedure that would let people object to particular photos.