One of the guys I follow on Twitter broke the news today that Google’s Street View maps have launched in the St. Louis area

dtothek twittered: “I’m kind of a Google Maps addict and probably look up something 1-2 times daily. Wasn’t there yesterday.”

And later, he adds: “By my estimate, the Street View car was in STL late-summer 2007. Based on construction projects I can relate to (Hwy 40, SLU arena).”

Street View is Google’s freaky, creepy project to provide exactly that in cities around the country: A view of those cities from the street, letting visitors virtually stroll down the center lane in neighborhoods and villages around the region. Here’s more on Wikipedia about Street View.

S00NAMI(also on Twitter), writes: “Thanks for the tip! I agree with your late summer timeline, based on the for sale signs I saw on the street at my old apt.”

As soon as I said something about it, all my neighboring colleagues launched into a scan of their neighborhoods. The darned thing is addictive.

The St. Louis-area maps appear to extend as far west as Lake Saint Louis, south into Festus, north to Brighton and east to Highland, Mt. Olive and Mascoutah. But the greatest detail seems to be in downtown St. Louis and out along the Highway 40 corridor.

Take a look. I’d be eager to hear what you think. Oh, and that photo is the view from the corner of my building from the corner of Tucker and Martin Luther King.

And thanks to Don K for the tip.