‘Pedestrian Remover’ May Change the Face of Google Street View

Image Credit: University of California - San Diego

Computer scientists at the University of California – San Diego have built a computer vision system that automatically removes individual pedestrians from Google Street View images.

The system works by cutting out the image of a person and replacing it with an approximation of the background behind him or her. The new background pixels mimic those from the photos immediately before and after the image in question.

Although Google Street View already blurs people’s faces and images of license plates, this new computer vision system could take this type of digital privacy one big step further. Plus, it would probably help the world avoid another “dead girl” panic.