Close-up picture of your house

Call it awesome, call it freaky, but it's interesting. Google has apparently taken pictures of the entire world (or is working on it). Take little Manteca, CA for instance. If you search for the City Hall, you can see not only a satellite picture, but a view from the street. Apparently you can see most of that city, and many more. Search for any address on Google maps and then click "Street View" in the upper right corner. If the street is highlighted in blue, you can see up close pictures of the address. It doesn't work well back home, but I do get the option to click "pictures" or "wikipedia" which gave me more links. Eventually you'll be able to search for your address, fly through your window, and access your webcam.

I just want to know who took all the 360 degree pictures of these towns, how much they got paid, and how you get that job?! How often are the photos updated? Google is awesome.