Natalie Maltais, 9, Missing Girl Found Under The Help of Google Street View
Posted Jan 10, 2009 by Lindsay Britney
Natalie Maltais, 9, Found in Virginia
In Massachusetts, the tech-savvy police used Google Street View, the feature of Google Maps that allows one to view the world at ground level on the internet, help find Natalie Maltais, 9, the girl who was not returned by granny Rose Maltais to her legal guardians after a weekend away.
A nine-year-old girl, allegedly kidnapped by her grandmother, has been found using a mobile phone signal and Google Street View.
A police officer and a firefighter in Athol, Massachusetts, joined forces after authorities were alerted that Natalie Maltais had been taken.
Officers used GPS in the girl’s mobile phone to find her approximate location.
They fed the co-ordinates into Google Street View, pinpointing a hotel where the child was subsequently found.
Here is how the police successfully achieved their heroic deeds:
The police contacted Ms Maltais, but after she didn’t return Natalie as promised, they decided to track them down using Natalie’s mobile phone.
Officer Neale then got in touch with Athol’s deputy fire chief Thomas Lozier who had previously used GPS to direct firefighters tackling forest and brush fires, and to find lost hikers.
He found the location on Google maps and looked at the Street View, which shows eye-level photographs of the area. That’s when he spotted a nearby hotel.
“I noticed the hotel in the area, and as I was panning the map, I was able to see the road sign at the intersection,” he said.
He used Google to search for hotels near that intersection and found the Budget Inn in Natural Bridge, Virginia.
“I noticed the hotel in the area, and as I was panning the map, I was able to see the road sign at the intersection,” he said.
He used Google to search for hotels near that intersection and found the Budget Inn in Natural Bridge, Virginia.
Officer Neale alerted the Virginia state police, who found the missing child and her grandmother in the hotel as predicted. [BBC: Google search finds missing child]
#Permalink Tags: Girl, Google, GPS, Grandmother, Massachusetts, Missing
