On its 15th birthday, Street View by Google has been updated with some new features and has also received a new camera to capture a 360-degree view of the world. The main highlight of this update is Street View’s ability to show historical images of various places on Google Maps. Here are the details.
Google Street View Brings Historical Imagery to Phones
You will now be able to go back in time and see historical images of various places in Google Maps on Android and iOS. This will create a time capsule of how those places were and how they have become. This functionality was introduced in 2014 and was previously available for Google Maps’ desktop version.
To see the historical images of a place, you can simply tap the “See more dates” option available anywhere on the street view of a place and you will be able to see images as old as 2007, the year when Street View was first introduced.
Another new announcement is a camera for Google to capture the Street View of various places. As opposed to the Street View car and trekker, this new camera is portable and modular in nature. Google says it is “roughly the size of a house cat” and is capable of taking high-resolution images with better processing capabilities.
The camera, which doesn’t have a name right now, weighs around 15 pounds and can fit in various camera components like Lidar sensors and more to better capture better details. And, it looks cute too! Another perk is that it can be packed into any car (earlier, a specialized car and equipment were needed!) with a roof rack for the added convenience of capturing a 360-degree view of various places. This will ship next year along with the Street View car and trekker.
Google also reiterates how useful Street View is. It can be used to add helpful information like business details to Google Maps, powers the Live View feature, and provide people with immersive imageries of places globally. So, what are your thoughts on Street View’s new capabilities? Let us know in the comments below.
