Privacy and Legal
- What measures are in place to ensure privacy and legal compliance? Photo shoots will exclude any areas of your businesses which you would not like to feature. In addition, our photographers will always alert customers and employees before a photo is taken, to uphold their privacy. All panoramic imagery will be processed by our state-of-the-art blurring technology to blur out faces of any employees or customers who appear in the imagery. At any time you may request additional blurring or takedown of entire images through our Report a Problem link at either the bottom of the pano image, or within your Google+ Local page.
- Who from my business can give legal permission for the photo shoot? You must have the proper authority to allow a Trusted Photographer access to the business premises to collect photographs and to subsequently allow Google to use those photographs in its products and services. People with this authority include the owner of the business or a director or manager with the designation to make those commitments on behalf of the business. Please note that by agreeing to the terms and conditions and the Google Terms of Service, before your photo shoot, you are confirming that you have the authority to make that commitment.
- Will Google be using the imagery in other applications besides Google Maps? Google may use these images in other products and services in new ways that will make your business information more useful and accessible to users. Google Maps will allow customers to find these images easily from the 360-degree Street View imagery of nearby roads for many locations.
- Do I own the photographs taken by a Trusted Photographer? Yes, you will own the photos taken by Trusted Photographers once you have paid for this service and the shoot is completed. Keep in mind that by signing the agreement, provided by the Trusted Photographer, you will also license the use of the photos to Google and the Trusted Photographer who will publish the imagery.
- Can I review the photos after they are taken and before they go live on my Google? Because the technology takes individual unstitched and unreviewed images that need considerable processing after they are uploaded by the photographer to produce the attractive ‘walk- through’ experience, you will not be able to review the images before they are uploaded to Google.
- Can I blur the images or take down all panoramas from my business listing? Yes, if you see a major issue you can ask us to blur some areas in each of the panoramic images. You may also ask us to take down all panoramas. At this time we are unable to take down individual panoramas. To request blurring or takedown click on the "Report a Problem" link on the specific images where you see issues and provide the requested information. Please note that the blurring/removal process may take several days.
- Could my photos be removed for other reasons? Yes, your photos might be removed if they are found to violate the Google photo policy. Although all business images undergo quality review before being uploaded, some photos may still be reported as inappropriate and later removed. The complete photo policy can be found here.
