Google Introduces Street View ‘Time Machine’

 

Image Credit: Canadianreviewer

A new version of Street View has been launched by Google Inc., which will enable all its users to travel back in time. This updated version will allow people to go way back to the ancient times of 2007. With this feature, people will be able to see how time has brought about changes to a particular place. Now onward, when people use Street View, all they have to do is click on the clock icon that can be seen in the corner of the screen and this icon will allow them to explore areas and roads in almost any part of the globe. Once this new icon is clicked on by the users, a scrollbar will be presented, which can be moved for changing the season and also the year of the building or area they are viewing to show what changes have been brought to it over time.

Go Back in Time with Google’s New Street View Imagery, Says Shet

Vinay Shet, the product manager of Google Street View made a post on the company’s official blog, stating that those who wanted to become time travelers now have the opportunity to do so. He then said that Google Maps release for desktop has introduced Street View imagery that would let people go back in time and see how the years have changed a place or location. He asserted that this digital capsule of the world was created by gathering the Street View historical images collection that go back to 2007.

Google Street

View is regarded as one of the most significant and major achievements of the company because it was mapped out by cars, which had mounted cameras and they were driven in different parts of the world. However, this would be the first time that the tech giant has made multiple versions of the captured images available to the public. Mr. Shet added that this new version of Street View would enable people to see the growth of a landmark from scratch, such as the 2014 World Cup stadium from Fortaleza Brazil or the Freedom tower in New York City.

Street View ‘Time Machine’ Gives In-depth Knowledge on Places

Mr. Shet said that people could easily get a timeline of recent events with Street View, such as the reestablishment after the destructive tsunami in Japan and the devastating earthquake in 2011. People can also experience different seasons and in fact, can also see what a certain place would look like in a particular season or weather. Primarily, Street View has been used by people for visualizing directions that could aid people in locating and finding different places.

Tourism Hotspots in Street View Make It Even More Interesting

However, this service has gained considerable popularity amongst ‘armchair explorers’, who have used Street View for discovering different parts of the world without even stepping a foot out of their homes. This is one of the reasons why Google has taken to adding beauty and tourism hotspots to Street View. Moreover, this service would now be used by even more people because of this ‘time machine’ feature. Earlier in this month, the search engine giant had added the maps of canals and rivers in the UK for the first time.