The site's features are similar to those offered by Google Earth, which was launched last year (www.earth.google.com) and prompted concerns among governments that terrorists might use the service as a tool to plot attacks.

Google earth allows internet users to zoom in on locations around the world.

Full circle pictures taken at 20 metre intervals in metropolitan areas and every 50 metres in rural areas will show the entire country at street level, with satellite images supplied by Google Earth offering a bird's eye view.

The pictures, put together by Cyclomedia, a spin-off of Delft Technical University, show views taken from public roads and are intended to help house hunters who want to check if their dream house is located next to a garbage dump.

"This is going to save a lot of people a lot of drives," Funda chief Marque Joosten said.

The site will also be a boon for the inquisitive.

"We also see that people look up the addresses of celebrities to see how they live," Mr Joosten said. "We assume that's only going to accelerate next week when they can watch detailed pictures of the streets."

Traffic to the Funda site peaked last year during a siege involving terror suspects in a borough of The Hague.

About 16 million people live in the Netherlands, making it one of the most densely populated countries in the world.