A new version of Google's Street View has been unveiled. The online mapping service now allows users to travel up to seven years back in time, thanks to Mountain View's archive footage. The update allows users to see how a city, neighbourhood or attraction from around the world has changed over the years, as Google has gathered historical imagery from past Street View collections dating back to when the service began in 2007.
"If you’ve ever dreamt of being a time traveller like Doc Brown, now's your chance," wrote Vinay Shet, Google Street View Product Manager, on Google's official blog. "Starting today, you can travel to the past to see how a place has changed over the years by exploring Street View imagery in Google Maps for desktop. We've gathered historical imagery from past Street View collections dating back to 2007 to create this digital time capsule of the world," explained Shet.
Street View allows users to see images taken by special cameras on roads and paths around the world. These images are periodically updated when the cars pass back over a previously covered area. It has created a useful way to help users find certain addresses and routes between different points and is also increasingly being used as a form of online tourism by "armchair explorers". This is the first time Google has made more than one version of the resulting images available to the public.
Compare the seasons
Where the feature is available, a new clock icon will appear in the corner of the screen, when Street View for Google Maps is accessed on a desktop or laptop computer. It brings up the scrollbar-controlled 'time machine'. The feature will change the year and can even provide different seasonal views of the area or building the user is currently looking at, to make a comparison of how the place has changed over time.
The new update is yet another step Google has taken to advance its Street View tool. The company has previously taken Street View inside some public places such as train stations and airports as it allowed users to view the inside of buildings whilst also introducing Indoor Street View for businesses. It expanded its underwater Street View with new locations earlier this year too.
Google also recently announced that it is beginning to use a new algorithm that can read the house numbers in street images, in order to improve the accuracy of addresses supplied in Google Maps searches.
Even though Google has announce that the back catalogue of Street View imagery is rolling out to users today, please note that the company typically rolls out new features over the course of a week, so for those who are still unable to access it at this time, it should show up within the next few days. Whilst we do welcome the new 'time machine' it must be admitted that some of the 'current' views on Maps and Street View are sorely in need of updating.
