iN PHOTOS: Okanagan, Kamloops show off for Google Street View, Maps

Some residents in the Thompson-Okanagan region get excited when they see the Google Street View vehicle with the big camera on its roof driving through their neighbourhood, and they quickly strike a pose or make a funny scene.

Other times, they find themselves pictured without realizing it happened.

Google Street View is an interactive feature accessed through Google Maps that allows users to virtually see what cities look like on the ground.

It can be fun to look up your house address on Google Maps and see who and what is shown there.

Google cars were created in 2007 and are currently driving in 87 countries around the world, according to google.com. To date the cars have captured more than 10 million miles of images, and some of them are bizarre such as people wearing costumes and peeing in public, and a person wearing a horse mask while eating a banana. The tech giant automatically blurs out faces and license plates.

People in the Thompson-Okanagan region were able to pull off a few funny poses and waves when the car came through a couple of years ago. In isn’t clear when the car will be back in the region as Google doesn’t make that information public.

Another feature is Google Earth which is a 3D interactive globe that allows users to explore the planet virtually through satellite imagery, aerial photos, topographic maps and street views. The technology is used for education, in the real estate industry, for urban planning and environmental studies.

In recent years, residents used the tool to view the Okanagan from above, giving us a different view of our favourite local landmarks.