Schaff: Bring Google Street View to Pitt, bring Pitt to the world

Pitt should welcome Google cameras onto campus. Consider this:

It’s August, and you’re a…Pitt should welcome Google cameras onto campus. Consider this:

It’s August, and you’re a rising high school senior living in, say, Fresno, Calif. Maintaining that she has your best interests in mind, your mom is once again harping on you to make an honest effort in the college search. So, half to appease her and half to imagine life outside of making the bed and meeting curfew, you turn to the instrument you think best-suited to aid in your decision-making process — the Internet.

Somewhere down the line you come across a school whose mountains, bridges and programs interest you, but whose distant location invalidates feasible travel. It calls itself the University of Pittsburgh. After perusing departmental websites and student testimonials, you inevitably reach a certain question, which you subsequently run into a wall trying to fully answer: What is it like to go to Pitt?

Sure, forums like College Confidential, statistical resources like the Princeton Review and U.S. News and World Report, student publications and even pictures of campus buildings and activities all contribute to a meaningful “what it’s like” understanding. But what if you could add a whole new way of pre-evaluating a school’s “feel” to these perspectives: A self-guided, 360-degree tour through campus, attainable from any wired computer and unlikely, thanks to a robust cloud infrastructure, to ever go offline?

Such a resource would undoubtedly be valuable to prospective students (and participating universities), and that’s why Pitt should join the growing list of U.S. universities partnering with Google Street View.

Since 2009, institutions of higher education from Dartmouth College to the University of Pennsylvania to the University of California at Riverside have invited search giant Google from the “streets” onto their grounds. Thanks to the Google Street View Partners program, the nooks and crannies of 27 major U.S. college and university campuses are wide open for public view, integrated seamlessly into Google Maps.

Similarly plastering its walkways and non-street public spaces in plain electronic sight, Pitt could make college decisions easier for prospective students who live a significant distance from Pitt’s campus. Think about how your “initial sense” of Pitt could have changed if you could effortlessly take an after-class stroll alongside the Cathedral of Learning, attend an event in Schenley Quad or chill out on Towers Patio, all in under five minutes from the convenience of your computer or smartphone. Far more helpful than the building-by-building slideshow currently available on Pitt’s website, a Street View representation of Pitt’s campus could instantly familiarize prospects with the environment that would surround them should they choose to attend Pitt. And that’s not even mentioning the emotional value such a resource could provide to alumni and helicopter parents.

More than just individuals stand to benefit from a Street-View-enhanced Pitt. With Pitt’s architecture and other physical amenities at the world’s scrutinizing fingertips, the visibility of the University as a whole could experience a boost (I suppose as long as we cut our grass). James Grant, assistant vice chancellor of strategic communications at Riverside, agrees that such Google partnerships could give sometimes-overlooked schools another chance to prove themselves. “Why not look for an advantage and make sure people are aware of what we’ve got right now?” he said in an Inside Higher Ed report in July.

Despite the compelling reasons to jump on the Street View bandwagon, Pitt should first consider some veritable concerns. Mainly, privacy could become an issue. Yes, on one hand the algorithms Google uses to blur faces, obscure identifying information and avoid unsightly visuals aren’t perfect (this isn’t so much of a problem, since Google supposedly bends to whatever terms universities set and maintains an online form to accept complaints from users about content to be removed). On the other hand, several government organizations around the world — including the U.S. Federal Communications Commission — have challenged Google with the allegation that the company’s vehicles have collected data beyond photographs (such as personal data from surrounding open Wi-Fi networks), and partnering universities therefore may want to worry about data privacy.

But, in the face of the obvious benefits, such concerns are surmountable. We’ve already allowed Google into so many other aspects of our lives, sharing Pitt’s walkways with it wouldn’t be so different.

Write Matt at matthew.schaff@gmail.com.