Man on a mission to get Guernsey on Google Street View

Andre Quevatre started with his street before growing in ambition

A man given a 360 camera as a present has taken it upon himself to get his Guernsey neighbourhood on the Google Street View map.

In 2011 islanders raised privacy concerns about the online map service, and the company's cars left the island before collecting all the images.

Andre Quevatre has started capturing the Vale parish himself.

Google allows anyone to upload images before using artificial intelligence to blur faces and car registration plates.

Google Street View stitches together images of places around the world, allowing people to virtually see locations that are of interest, and move around between them.

The States of Guernsey's Office of the Data Protection Authority (ODPA) said in 2010 Google had deployed cars on the island to record for the Street View service.

Andre Quevatre was inspired after receiving a 360 camera for his birthday

They stopped operating when concerns were raised about the cars harvesting wi-fi data on private roads, "and the (then) commissioner intervened to prevent such recording", the ODPA said.

All the company's cars left Guernsey before image collection was completed, and did not return.

The ODPA said: "The recording of these images is not in itself unlawful, hence the vast coverage of such mapping/imaging applications.

"However, the Data Protection (Bailiwick of Guernsey) Law, 2017 requires certain measures to be complied with when personal data is collected and processed."

Mr Quevatre said he was inspired after receiving a 360 camera for his birthday.

He said: "When we go on holiday if we are staying somewhere, a gite or something like that, we always have a look and Street View is brilliant and I think it's really good for tourism.

After capturing his own street, he set himself the challenge of documenting the whole of the Braye du Val and some of L'Ancresse too.

"I haven't quite finished it, there are a few lanes that I haven't done," he added.

Mr Quevatre said he filmed in 15 to 20 minute segments before uploading his footage, which takes about 24 hours to become visible on Street View.

Since starting his recordings in August, 308,000 people have looked at the content he has uploaded.

Follow BBC Guernsey on X (formerly Twitter) and Facebook. Send your story ideas to [e-mail].