Behave yourselves: Google Maps Street View car headed to Wellesley Sept. 12

UPDATED (Sept. 5): This has been changed to Sept. 12, was originally scheduled for Sept. 5

Wellesley College has given students and staff a heads-up that the Google Street View car will be cruising into town on Sept. 5 Sept. 12 to film routes across campus, which will then be incorporated into Google Maps.

If you’re not familiar with Street View, it’s a controversial Google system that produces spectacular close-ups of places for Google Maps, but has been criticized by privacy advocates for capturing people in assorted compromising positions. And of course many people take the opportunity to purposely mess with the cameras. The latest Google Street View cars boast GPS and have 15 lenses that can take 360-degree photos (Google also has Street View pushcarts, snowmobiles and trikes to infiltrate different terrain.)

Wellesley College naturally is encouraging its students and staff to put the school in a great light: “We want to show the vibrancy of the Wellesley community, so come on out to be filmed. All faces and car license plates will be blurred, so don’t be shy in showing off the Wellesley activities you love!”

No word on whether the Street View car will be visiting other spots in town yet. The main Wellesley streets appear to already have been filmed.