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Interesting thread. As researchers we must situate our practice. While streetview can be used to highlight particular geographic trends, a visual analysis of google streetview cannot be described as ethnographic. The 'ethno' is entirely absent as we, as observers of streetview, are invisible and there is an absence of human interaction, an absence that is (privately) mediated and recorded through Google. What we 'do' when viewing streetview is more akin to armchair exploration (a practice with a distinguished colonial history - the source of the river Niger was 'discovered' by an armchair explorer), with the twist that we leave a virtual trail of observation for Google to examine if they wish. Hugh