Google has rolled out a set of new features for Google Maps Street View, expanding how users explore cities by stepping back in time with immersive map views and introducing a high quality camera system designed to capture the world in stunning detail. This marks another leap for Street View as Google continues to broaden its capabilities on mobile devices and across its map ecosystem.
Street View remains Google Maps core feature that presents streets through real foreground imagery. The tech giant announced multiple enhancements on a Tuesday to celebrate the service’s 15th anniversary, observed on Sunday, May 29. These updates underscore Google’s commitment to deeper, richer mapping experiences across platforms.
One notable innovation centers on a camera system that packs all the power, resolution, and processing capacity of a Street View car into an ultraportable unit. This compact device can be deployed in varied environments while maintaining high image quality for mapping purposes, according to Google’s own description on its blog.
State of the art camera
The new camera features a sturdy metal base, dual lenses, and venting for efficient cooling. It is designed for portability and can be transported to remote islands, mountaintops, or any challenging location. Weighing under seven kilograms, the system supports modular add-ons such as a laser scanner to capture precise details like lane markings and potholes, enhancing the accuracy of road and infrastructure data for users and planners alike.
Google notes that this camera can be attached to vehicles equipped with a roof rack and controlled remotely via a mobile device. The plan is to start integrating this advanced hardware with Street View fleets next year, expanding the scope of high quality imagery collected in diverse settings and terrain.
The company envisions obtaining superior imagery from places that have traditionally received less coverage, including remote and densely vegetated regions. The result will be richer, more complete street-level visuals that improve navigation, exploration, and geographic understanding for users around the world.
Go back in time
Another major feature alignes with the anniversary celebrations consists of a time travel view within the Street View experience. Now available on iOS and Android apps, this capability was previously limited to the web version but is expanding to mobile devices for broader access.
Within the map visuals, a new option lets users trace how a location has changed over time. By selecting the feature labeled See more dates, viewers can interact with imagery from different years to compare how a place looked earlier and understand its evolution since Street View began in 2007.
Google has also introduced a fresh immersive layer that blends Street View imagery with advanced artificial intelligence and machine vision. The immersive skin serves as a modernized map experience that leverages AI to deliver more contextual visuals and seamless navigation cues. Through this approach, aerial and street imagery are combined to form digital models of places around the world, offering a richer sense of scale and place. The immersive view is expected to roll out later in the year, bringing new depth to how users perceive locations and plan trips or fieldwork.