One of the great things about technology is that it has generally made things a whole lot easier. Think about what things we have today that we didn't growing up. Cell phones, GPS, heck, even forms of payment are touchless and cashless now. One technological feature that has been fully embraced by society is Google Street View. How many strange or funny things have been caught by Google's driving camera cars? There is, however, one Minnesota city that you won't find on Street View, and it's for a very good reason.

Google Street View Has Changed How We Get Places

When I first started driving, when I needed to go somewhere I wasn't familiar with, I'd have to hop on a desktop computer, navigate to MapQuest's website, put in where I was going, and then print off the instructions. (That's right, kids, we had printed turn-by-turn directions on paper, which we had to read while driving if we didn't have a passenger to navigate)

Now what do we do? We open up the Google Maps app on our smartphones, tell it where we want to go, and it provides us with driving directions hands-free. Perhaps even better is that you can pull up the address where you are going and see what it looks like, or perhaps the best place to park by checking out your destination using Google's Street View.

Street View can also be utilized to see how an area has changed over the years, by going 'back in time' with the See More Dates tool.

One Minnesota Community That Isn't On Google Street View

One problem that people bring up with Google's Street View is that it takes away some of our privacy. It allows strangers to 'visit' our houses without actually driving there, and that can be an uneasy feeling for those who don't want that information out there. (You can request that Google blur your home)

One Minnesota city that you won't find on Google Street View is located in the Twin Cities Metro-area and is widely considered to be one of the most affluent cities in the state.

North Oaks, The Minnesota City Without Public Property

North Oaks, Minnesota, doesn't have public property; it's a city that has a Mayor and City Council, but all residents are bound by a homeowners association that handles maintenance costs, rather than a Public Works department.

Property in North Oaks goes to the middle of the road, rather than ending like most communities in the boulevard, meaning all of the streets are owned by the homeowners.

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That means there are no public roadways in the City of North Oaks; all of the roadways are private, meaning Google's Street View Team can't drive through to take pictures.

Don't believe me? Go ahead, open up Google Maps, enter in North Oaks, and see if you can get the stick man to open up Street View.

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