Drawing on previous criminological applications, I discuss how the availability of Google Maps and Street View can generate new research questions and how they could be considered important additions to the methodological toolkit of criminologists. A small number of criminological studies have already shown that these technologies can be a valuable addition to environmental criminological research, and this article considers how they might be implemented in future criminological research. In this article I argue that the proliferation of online mapping technologies opens up several new approaches for criminologists to conduct environmental criminological research in particular. Whereas the general public, offenders and law enforcement agencies have already discovered the power of these online mapping services and use them daily, criminologists, somewhat surprisingly, seem not to have fully discovered the advantages of using Google Maps and Street View in their research. However, while there are abundant examples of studies that apply Google Maps and Street View in related scientific fields, only a few criminological studies have tapped into the power of online mapping technologies for research purposes.

For instance, geographers rely on aerial photography from Google Maps as an alternative to expensive commercial satellite imagery (Pringle ) and biologists tap into Street View imagery to assess the habitat of certain animal species (Olea and Mateo-Tomás ). Several scientific disciplines were quick to implement these web mapping applications in their research.

Although Google Maps and Street View have not been developed with scientific research in mind, they create interesting possibilities for research.

Google satellite view of address