Fans of Street View may not get a lot of work done today.  Google’s seen fit to release images covering three new countries, and pictures documenting some special points of interest within America’s borders have become available, as well.

Switzerland, Taiwan, and Portual are the three main attractions (as you probably gathered from this piece’s title).  Interesting and even stunning views are available of each, with the image below showing off Grindelwald, Switzerland.

As for the odds and ends, Stephen Chau, a product manager, explained in a post on the LatLong Blog, "We took our Street View cars for spins around two race tracks in California: Thunderhill Raceway Park and Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca."

Chau then continued, "We’ve also used our Street View Trike, the new bicycle-based system, to gather imagery at San Diego State University and LEGOLAND California.  We’ve included a little surprise at LEGOLAND, which we hope you will enjoy!"  (That surprise – possible spoiler alert! – may or may not be the Lego Pegman.)

So there’s plenty of stuff to keep Street View fans busy.  And since it had been a while since the last time Google released any fresh Street View imagery, this morning’s update should prove especially welcome.

Let’s be honest: someone who’s incapable of copying and pasting an address into Google Maps may not be worth having as a customer.  But most companies like to make things easy on people, and a new Google Maps gadget should ensure that it’s easy for would-be clients to find businesses.

A post on the LatLong Blog explains, "This simple gadget allows webmasters to add customized Google Maps directions to their business locations. . . .  The gadget allows you to pre-fill the ‘To’ field with one or multiple addresses.  Customers are then able to print their directions with a single click."

This should increase the convenience factor of businesses’ sites, even as it allows firms to make sure potential shoppers don’t wander away.  A nice touch is that companies can keep messy street addresses out of the "To" fields, as well – it’s possible to use more recognizable names and aliases. 

As you can see, Legoland California’s already taken advantage of the Google Maps offering.  More serious entities like Emeril Lagasse restaurants and Harvard have put it to use, too.

The gadget’s available in 23 languages, so it’s probably just a matter of time until businesses all over the world are on much better terms with Google Maps.