While some people may just log on to see their own home – then log off again in boredom – Google’s new Street View with its 360 degree view 22,369 miles of UK streets is most fun for snap shots of outdoor life.

So for those that rarely make it to 66 Portland Place we bring you a view of the Falun Gong protesters who camp outside the RIBA’s headquarters (spot the crowd control barrier, that should stop them storming the Chinese embassy opposite). And if you care to see what the background chatter is when you call RIBA Journal offices on a warm day then check out this vision of Clerkenwell Green; at the first hint of sunshine drinkers at the pub and café spill out onto the pavement with a hubbub that has to be one of the most pleasant of city noises.

There are 25 UK cities currently on Street View. That sounds a lot but it means no Bath or Rotherham and many more missing besides. There are particular drawbacks for checking out development sites, they have to be on a road for Google’s car and its camera to have captured them. So if you want to have a ground level tour of Liverpool’s docks you are out of luck, there aren’t the right sort of streets there. A quick zoom in on nearby shopping development, Liverpool One, shows how disorientating the mismatched images from Google Earth and Street View can be. Shot from above Google Earth catches the early stages of construction, Street View is far more recent and shows anchor John Lewis store with window displays in place. Could it be the eco-friendly alternative to day trips, window shopping, site seeing and visiting friends’ houses without the slog of motorway driving?

Find your way to Street View at http://maps.google.com/ – just look for and position the flying mannequin.