Google Maps’ historical Street View imagery comes to mobile

Image: Google

The Street View feature is getting a couple of upgrades to celebrate the service's 15th anniversary. Historical Street View imagery will be displayed on your phone with the first feature coming to itsiOS andANDROID apps. The second is a portable camera that will make it easier for it to capture Street View imagery in the future.

It has been possible to use Street View to see how a place has changed over time. The service will have the same ability in both apps. You can access it by tapping anywhere on the screen while in Street View mode, and then selecting "see more dates" to access historical imagery. The feature will show imagery going all the way back to Street View's launch in 2007, according to the ads.

Image: Google

Image: Google

Street View's anniversary coincides with the announcement of a new, more portable camera for capturing 360-degree imagery. Currently, the search giant uses dedicated cars and large camera-equipped backpacks to photograph the world, but the new camera shrinks down all thisFunctionality into a device weighing a little under 15 pounds.

The camera is designed to make it easier for Street View to be captured around the world. Rather than paying to transport dedicated camera-equipped cars, Google can simply retrofit its new camera into an existing vehicle. Street View data has already been collected by attaching the existing bulky cameras to everything from snowmobiles to Venetian gondolas, so it's easy to imagine a wide range of new vehicles.

The head of Street View's hardware team says there should be some benefits to how each panorama looks.

Street View is a useful feature that many of us have looked out for online before heading there ourselves, and a fun novelty with an intense competitive scene to match. Having cameras on the streets is a helpful way of improving its Maps data. Street View imagery is used to add new businesses to the map and to provide information about opening hours.

The new camera will be rolled out next year with the existing cars and Trekkers.