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Long Island Town Uses Google Earth to Find Rogue Swimming Pools

by Caleb Johnson on August 2, 2010 at 05:15 PM

Officials in one Long Island town are cracking down on rogue swimming pool owners by using Google's satellite imaging technology. According to an Associated Press report in The Wall Street Journal, Riverhead, New York's chief building inspector, LeRoy Barnes, Jr., is using Google Earth to locate swimming pools that haven't been registered for a city permit. So far, Barnes and his staff have discovered about 250 pools to be missing permits, and have collected about $75,000 in fines. The city claims that this rash of unregulated pools could have faulty plumbing or electrical work, which would endanger Riverhead residents.

Lillie Coney, associate director of the Electronic Privacy Information Center in Washington, D.C. told the AP, "The technology is going so far ahead of what people think is possible, and there is too little discussion about community norms." The decision to use Google Earth probably didn't stem from safety or privacy; the city used a free service to do a faster, more efficient (and invasive) job. It makes perfect fiscal sense, even if it might ruffle some feathers. [From: AP/The Wall Street Journal]

Tags: google, GoogleEarth, LongIsland, permit, pool, riverhead, satellite, summer, top

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